SLYTHINDOR
by SuSaMiNa
Summary: What will happen when Dumbledore tries to end the eternal dispute betweeen Gryffindor and Slytherin by combining the houses? Hint: Mischief,Humor, Forbidden Love and a Masquerade Ball... (not cliche I promise) *NEW* CHAPPIE UP!!(12) D/H 4ever ;-)
1. Pranks, Tricks, and Pixisticks

Disclaimer: I don't own and of the Harry Potter characters or anything affiliated with them.  
  
Author's Note: Hey people this is my first fanfic so it's probably gonna suck but hey I'll give it a shot since it's summer and I'm bored out of my mind haha. It's going to be a D/Hr fic but it's gonna take a few chapters to get to that part of the plot so be patient. This chapter isn't really about that part of he plot but don't worry there'll be PLENTY of that later on and fluff galore LoL but I don't wanna just throw them together you know? If you don't like D/Hr give it a shot anyway cuz I really used to be a R/Hr shipper but a lot of D/Hr fics are really good. I really don't wanna annoy you about reviewing but it's my first fic so I wanna know how bad I suck at writing LoL well as people say you are your worst critic! I hope you like it...  
  
Slythindor  
  
Chapter 1: Pranks, Tricks and Pixisticks  
  
"Just what do you think you're doing"?! yelled Mcgonagoll as she spotted the Weasley twins climbing out from under the Slytherin table in the great hall.  
  
"Oh...umm...well Fred and I were playing with this little ball see and it rolled under the table and well we were just trying to get it" said George trying not to look suspicious and displaying his best grin.  
  
"And just where is this ball you were looking for?" snapped Mcgonagoll suspiciously.  
  
"We couldn't find it...darn...oh well we'll just go back to our table and finish eating then professor," said Fred as him and George bolted muttering something amongst themselves.  
  
Back at the Gryffindor table Hermione was watching trying to see these pixisticks the Weasley twins have been bragging about. Nobody knew what they did exactly but the twins assured them it was their best prank yet.  
  
"Did they say anything at all about what they did Ron? Even just a little hint?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Nope, not a word just that those Slytherins are going to be sorry for that prank they pulled last week!"  
  
"Yah, and the week before that!" added Harry.  
  
The Slytherins had been pretty harsh with the pranks ever since the Gryffindors won all 3 games in a 3 game Quidditch series against the Slytherins. The funny part is that it was all Snape's idea. They were in class one day and the Slytherins and Gryffindors got into yet another dreadful brawl and to settle it, Snape said that he remembered when he was in school that they had a Quidditch series and that it was a perfect way for the Slytherins...erm...both houses to prove they're the best. Plus he took off 50 points from Gyrffindor and 20 from Slytherin because he claimed Gryffindor started it. That was forgotten however as Harry really outdid himself those 3 games catching the snitch every time and Ron, now the keeper, consistently and swiftly blocked the Quaffle as it came. Snape never really recovered from this embarrassment and the Slytherins, although they won't show it as much, blame him for their humiliation. But instead of taking it out on Snape they were bent on getting even. Even out of nowhere in the halls and in the classrooms members of both houses got into horrible fights. Especially Ron, Harry, and Malfoy. All 3 of them got detention five times already and in only 3 weeks! Even though Malfoy and his cronies kept starting it with the usual insults and a few provoking words that sent Ron and Harry into a rampage every time.  
  
"I hope that git Malfoy gets what's coming to him," Ron said with Harry nodding in agreement.  
  
"Yah, I told the twins to put a little more of those pixisticks on Malfoy.although I haven't the bloodiest idea what they are but whatever they are I hope Malfoy gets humiliated the most" said Harry casting a dark glance in Malfoy's direction.  
  
"I don't quite agree with you Harry," said Nearly Headless Nick as he stuck his head through the table, "I think this has gone far enough already and it wouldn't be right of you to stoop to their level."  
  
"Aww you're just saying that 'cause you're afraid of what the Bloody Baron'll do to you when he finds out what we've done...whatever it is."  
  
Nick looked flushed, "That's quite ridiculous, why I have nothing to lose but the rest of my neck!"  
  
"Oh my gosh, LOOK! The Bloody Baron is right behind you!" Hermione shouted, feigning shock and pointing.  
  
"WHAT?! Oh dear me I've got to get out of...." he didn't have to finish his sentence as he spotted the Baron across the room knocking some Hufflepuff's books over.  
  
"Ha ha good one Hermione!" Harry said as he was cracking up.  
  
"Yah I'm laughing my HEAD off!," Ron bellowed while Nearly Headless Nick, looking quite aggravated, disappeared from the table.  
  
Over at the Slytherin table Draco Malfoy was wondering why a lot of the Gryffindors kept looking toward his table. Every time he'd look toward their table he'd see a handful of them just staring at the Slythins as if expecting them to blow up or something. They better not be up to anything he thought as he chuckled thinking of last week's prank. The Slytherins had spiked their drinks with Hiccup Syrup and the Gryffindor's were hiccuping non-stop for the next 2 days straight. They had completely gotten away with it too since the teachers blamed it on the house elves since they're the ones who make the drinks. Draco thought Dumbledore was a little suspicious of them though. He could see he couldn't quite bring himself to blame the house elves. He continued to watch the Gryffindor table and noticed Hermione glancing over to his table. That girl really made his blood boil sometimes. He still has nightmares about the Ferret incident.and occasionally tried to lick his hand. He shuddered at the thought, 'stupid moodblood.' Not only that, her teeth shrunk as he had observed from afar one day. Draco was never one to stare however but there was something about her that made him look twice at her sometimes. Not that anyone will ever, in his superior, privileged existence will find out.  
  
All of a sudden Draco's attention was brought to Pansy Parkinson who had gotten up and fell flat on her face right across from him. He laughed and so did some of the others but as he and her friends got up to help her they fell as well and as more people got up, before they were able to take a few steps they'd fall flat on their faces too! This caught the attention of all the other tables and soon the Great Hall was mad with laughter as everyone in Slytherin kept falling over and over again. Draco was a bit brighter than them though, so after falling a couple of times he had the sense to go sit down again and he just sat there watching the mayhem happening around him and hoping no one had noticed his meeting with the floor tiles. The teachers had come to help them but as they fell they just grabbed onto the teachers and brought them right down with them. Draco was becoming red with anger as he saw some of the Slytherins had resorted to crawling seeing as how they couldn't take two steps without falling down. They were crawling back toward the Slytherin table though and those who reached it sat down and didn't move again. The Slytherins were bumped and bruised from falling so many times in a row and the rest of the Hall was still howling with laughter.  
  
"Stupid Malfoy why'd he have to sit back down?!" said Ron with tears still in his eyes from laughing so hard "I wanted to see him smash his face onto the floor again, that was priceless!" as he started to laugh even harder.  
  
"Yah, leave it to him to ruin our fun but seeing him and the floor getting acquainted was enough satisfaction to last me a year!" said Harry between laughs, "I've got to hand it to your brothers though Ron that was genius!"  
  
Soon everyone at the Gryffindor table was secretly congratulating Fred and George trying not to make it too obvious so as not to reveal the culprits. They soon started filing out of the Great Hall as it was time to leave and the Gryffindors couldn't help jeering at the Slytherins who were stuck just sitting there in their humiliation.  
  
"Hey Malfoy I saw you sucking face with the floor before...did you ask it for another date?" Ron asked mockingly as everyone laughed.  
  
"Shutup Weasel at least I don't suck face with a mudblood," Draco retorted glancing darkly at Hermion, satisfied by Ron's redding face. Hermione however, to his displeasure, rolled her eyes and continued on her way out as the Slytherins laughed uproariously as she left.  
  
Soon enough everyone had left and they were stranded sitting there for hours with no one having the guts to get up and see if the spell had worn off yet. The teachers were stumped since the pixisticks were an original invention of the Weasley twins and they weren't exactly a spell...  
  
Meanwhile, Dumbledore had retired to his quarters, perfectly calm about the whole situation. He nodded cordially at the portraits of the old headmasers as he entered and made his way to his simply cluttered room. More portraits and gadgets were scattered about the area, the pictures now snoring peacefully. He changed into his blue star speckled nightgown and a nightcap on to match with a stuffed star at the end and turned on his soothing "sounds of sleeping dragons" tape.  
  
"Clever boys those Weasley twins are. Clever boys..." he mumbled to himself as he climbed into his star speckled bed. As he was falling into a deep slumber, downstairs the teachers were getting frustrated with this dilemma with the Slytherins however so they sent Mcgonagoll up to ask him about it.  
  
Dumbledore heard a knock on his door. His half asleep eyes shot open as he sighed and got up. He grasped the nearest candleholder and opened the door. To his surprise a simply frazzled Professor Mcgonagoll rushed in past his heavy-eyed figure and asked him what they were going to do about the Slytherins as if it was the dilemma of the century.  
  
"Oh don't get so worked up Minerva. It's quite simple actually let them figure it out" he said with a twinkle in his eye and a yawn on his lips.  
  
"Figure it out? None of teachers can figure it out how on earth should they?" she replied looking quite perturbed and twisting a handkerchief nervously in her hands.  
  
"Don't worry, don't worry tell everyone to just go to bed," as he guided her to the door, yawning again, "They'll figure it out before midnight even I promise you." As she turned around to protest he gave her a I-know-what- I'm-doing look, wished her a good night and returned to his interrupted slumber.  
  
She went downstairs and reported this to the rest of the teachers. After some protesting she assured them that he gave her his word that they'd figure it out. She also said she'd personally check on them every once so she instructed them to just go to bed and not to worry about it.  
  
Back at the Great Hall the Slytherins were growing restless. They had been sitting there for still more hours. Each of them was trying to find a comfortable position for them to sit or sleep in since it was getting so late. They all knew the teachers had given up and they were getting so angry at the Gryffindors everyone was turning red in the face.  
  
"When I get out of this mess the Gryffindors are as well as dead" Draco said menacingly with the Slytherins nodding in agreement.  
  
"Well if you ask me I'd rather think about that when I'm well rested I don't think I can take much more of this" said Crabbe as he raised his feet on the table in a reclinable position. As soon as he did this though as the Slytherins were about to protest about him exposing them to that horrid smell when they noticed something extremely strange at the bottom of his feet.  
  
"Crabbe what on EARTH are those things at the bottom of your shoe?" asked Pansy, puzzled, pointing to his sole.  
  
"What are you talking about?" he asked as he looked at the sole of his shoe. When he looked he saw that he had these flat colorful sticks at the bottom of his shoe. The Slytherins just stared at him waiting for an explanation.  
  
"I didn't put these here" he said as he peeled them off.  
  
They all gave him doubtful look, "Sure you didn't Crabbe" said Goyle with a chuckle.  
  
Soon everyone at the table was laughing at him for having rainbow colored soles. They had just found someone to turture seeing as how they had nothing better to do they might as well pick on one of their own.  
  
"Yeah maybe he put them there to get rid of the smell!" Pansy laughed.  
  
Crabbe was boiling with anger, " I didn't put 'em there I tell you!" and as they looked at him mockingly he said "Well I'm not going to take this! I'm leaving even if I have to crawl, and the hell with all of you." He got up and to everyone's utter shock he didn't fall a single time.  
  
"Hey the spell wore off!" Pansy said as she got up but as soon as she took a step her face hit the floor again. Since everyone was watching her though they noticed her feet too.  
  
"Pansy's got rainbow soles too!" Goyle bellowed and everyone laughed again.  
  
However Draco was a bit brighter than them, and realizing the problem, he looked at the soles of his shoe and to his surprise he didn't have a couple of colorful sticks like Crabbe did, he had a bout ten of them!  
  
"Augh.look!" he beckoned them, aggravated, as he showed them the bottom of his shoes. He had never felt so stupid in his life.  
  
"Oh great now Draco's got em!" Pansy said.  
  
"No you bloody dolts! We've all got them, see for yourself!" he shouted exasperatedly. Slowly everyone looked and to their shock and horror they all had them.  
  
"You mean they were here this whole time?!" Pansy said as she peeled hers off, "Augh! I'm missing my beauty sleep!" she exclaimed as she flipped her hair and took off in a huff.  
  
Soon everyone at the Slytherin table was leaving just as the clock struck midnight. Mcgonagoll had shown up looking very puzzled as she saw them filing out of the Great Hall with menacing expressions on their faces.  
  
So0o0o what'd ya think? I used this chapter sorta as a humorous example of the conflict between the two houses. I haven't really gotten to the main people in the story and familiarizing you with them and their thoughts and stuff but don't worry that'll come soon. The next chapter is the Slytherin retaliation so0o check back to what they'll do.... Pleeease try to review but don't go complaining about grammatical errors or anything cuz it's not like I can change them and they really don't matter as long as I've got the main idea across LoL thx a lot 4 reading this bye! 


	2. Bludgers, Bludgers Everywhere

Disclaimer: I do not own and of the Harry Potter characters or anything affiliated with them.  
  
Author's Note: Still reading this crap huh? LoL I'm going reeeeally slow with the plot development I think this story is gonna be really long LoL but hey I like long fics they're fun to read and I'll soon see if they're fun to write haha and don't worry I'll get to the D/Hr but you know they can't just like be puhed together all of a sudden-their time will come though....  
  
  
  
Slythindor  
  
Chapter 2: Bludgers, Bludgers Everywhere  
  
The next morning in the Great Hall, things had taken a turn for the worse. Harmless pranks went cruel and simple tricks went complex and a normal breakfast turned chaotic. The Weasley twins had run out of pranks to play...if that's possible and the Slytherins were running short on insults but everyone knew they were plotting something terrible. A couple of days passed and members of both houses had hex marks, remnants of several pranks played on them, bruises and bumps from all the fights they got in, and most of all they had a ton of detentions as well as the house points taking a plummet. Gryffindor Tower was a mess-everyone was miserable.  
  
"This is getting way out of hand!" Ron said as he scratched his arm then his neck.  
  
"That itching hasn't...achoo!..... stopped yet?" Hermione asked as she wiped her nose and then sneezed again.  
  
"Does it bloody look like it?! I'm sure I'm actually itchy in 500 places at one time just naturally!" snapped Ron as he scratched furiously.  
  
"Well really you don't have to get all SNIPPY about it!" said Hermione turning to Harry as she giggled.  
  
"You think that's funny do you?" Harry asked disgustingly. The other day in Charms they were learning how to possess objects and Draco's object happened to be a scissor that day and well...Harry's hair didn't quite fair well as Draco snipped away from across the room possessing his scissor with his wand. Harry's hair came out even worse probably because Draco was cracking up while doing it so his hand wasn't exactly stable... Harry didn't even notice as he was having too much trouble with his object which unluckily was some stupid vine plant that kept wrapping around his arms. His hair had 3 bald spots and no two hairs were the same length. It was worse than that time Aunt Petunia tried to cut it plus he had to deal with it's humiliation for the rest of the day.  
  
"Well at least you don't have to...Achoo!...deal with it anymore!" Hermione said miserably as she sneezed again. She remembered her surprise that morning when Harry's hair was just the way it was before Charms Class.  
  
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Down at the Slytherin dungeons things weren't any better. They were somewhat worse actually since the Weasley twins were best pranksters in Hogwarts and they were Gryffindors. Draco had green spots all over his body and he wasn't too happy about it. Harry hexed him with those after the hair incident. They weren't quite green anymore though since the spell was starting to wear off but they were dark spots on his skin and they contrasted greatly with his paleness. Pansy thought she had it worst of all though but no on else thought so. After sneaking Sneeze Serum into Hermione's drink, Hermione remembered a difficult spell that she was quite proud about completing. It was a face altering spell and Pansy's nose was practically as long as Pinochio's! She sure was sorry about that serum and she had gotten caught too but at least it was after Hermione had taken a sip.  
  
"Hey I think it's gotten shorter!" Pansy exclaimed hopefully as she looked at herself in the mirror for the hundreth time or maybe thousandth time that day.  
  
"Yah Pansy- a millimeter shorter" laughed Draco.  
  
"Shutup why don't you go buy yourself a Dalmation so you'll match!" snapped Pansy as she looked back at her mirror and sulked some more.  
  
Draco just gave her a menacing look and walked away but he knew she wouldn't even notice. He kind of liked Pansy but she was so annoying and self-absorbed sometimes...well maybe all the time. That's how she was though, but she was the most attractive girl in Slytherin and sometimes he just couldn't get her out of his mind. She would walk past him sometimes and give him this look and he would just want to run after her and.....augh what's the use? He was going to become a Death Eater soon and he wouldn't have time for all these stupid thoughts his hormones cooked up. He really didn't mind that he was becoming a Death Eater. He felt that was his place in life and there he would feel he had an important purpose. What else was he going to do anyway? That was his furture and he just had to deal with it. Besides his father always told him not to let girls get to him because that was a sign of weakness. He said he's seen many men getting caught up with women and losing their place because of it. He advised him to always stay on track and to crush any distractions before they got too complex. He tried not to think of his father now though and decided it was getting late and there was going to be some special quidditch practice really early tomorrow so he went to bed.  
  
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Very early the next morning the Gryffindors had a practice planned as well and they had figured the Slytherins had one too so they made sure to get up extra early to get to practice in the stadium. The next game was Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff so they needed the practice more anyway. The Slytherins could go practice in some other field on the Hogwarts grounds. Harry was the new captain of the team now that Woods was gone so he had planned this out from a while back.  
  
"Harry, for God's sake it's not even light out yet! What time is it?" Ron asked grumpily as he was struggling to reach his watch.  
  
"5:00 AM now come on and help me wake the others, the Slytherins will be out there any minute now so come on!" said Harry who was completely ready to go.  
  
"Harry have we ever made it clear to you how much we HATE YOU?" the Weasley twins asked as they were struggling out of bed.  
  
"Ha ha you're too funny now come ON the Slytherins are probably out there already half way through their practice!" Harry said.  
  
"Those disgusting wankers better not be, we've got a game coming up!" said Ron who was trying now to get ready quicker now just to beat the Slytherins to the stadium.  
  
"Hey Ron you're not itching anymore!" Harry inquired as he noticed Ron wasn't scratching every 5 seconds now.  
  
"Yah hey I hadn't even noticed I guess with you barking at me!" he said gladly as he finished getting ready,"Maybe rushing makes it stop ha ha."  
  
"Alright then everyone, let's go," Harry said and he went downstairs and met up with the female members of the team and they all sped off to the stadium.  
  
Thankfully the Slytherins weren't there and they went on with their normal Quidditch practice. It was kind of nice playing early in the morning. The weather was nice for the fall and they found they had a lot of energy so early which came to them as soon as they got up in the air. Their normal practice didn't stay normal though as about 15 minutes later they saw the Slytherin team approaching. They decided to act nonchalant about it and not to gloat that they got there first since they really needed to practice and no one really wanted another hex mark. They had so many they were beginning to be a fashion statement.  
  
"What do you think your doing here you dirty gits?" yelled Draco from below, "We have a bludger practice this morning and we need the stadium!"  
  
The Slytherins had some incidents with the bludgers the past few games. Their beaters had graduated last year and their new ones weren't too great. They really did need a bludger practice which was when you release a lot of bludgers and practice soley your bludger dodging skills. You can't release more than about 10 though because then they can get a little tough to handle and can get out of control. Even in the stadium thought bludgers can be lost easily especially when you have a lot so they bought a lot of extra ones. They had a bout 20 on them and they were looking forward to their special training that day.  
  
"We've got a game with Hufflepuff soon Malfoy so we need to practice, besides we got here first so get lost!" yelled Harry as he went back to the game.  
  
"Listen Potter don't force us to do anything rash, you know very well bludger practices can only be done in the stadium," Draco shouted,"You can take your loser team and play somewhere else!"  
  
"Loser team eh? I haven't seen you win ONE game against us Malfoy and I never WILL see you," snapped Harry," And besides why should we do anything for you"?  
  
"Because if you don't we'll...we'll release every single bludger on you filthy wankers!" yelled Draco menacingly.  
  
"You wouldn't dare Malfoy! You know perfectly well what would happen if you did that and I don't think you'd want to get caught do you? Seems we have a lot of witnesses here so just leave us alone!" Harry shouted back a little worried about what Malfoy might do. Releasing those bludgers would be disastrous.  
  
"I'm warning you Potter GET DOWN or these bludgers are going to be having their own little party beating your behinds!" yelled Draco.  
  
"Would you SHUTUP already? If your so anxious to see a massacre, go become a death eater...oh wait you already DID that!" Harry shouted back with a chuckle.  
  
Draco became so angry at that he was turning red in the face which was quite difficult because of his pale complexion. Him and the Slytherins went into an absolute rampage they wanted that stadium and they were going to get it plus that disgusting comment wasn't going to go unanswered. They opened all four chests with the bludgers in them, unfastened the balls, then took off as fast as they could. The Gryffindors had hardly noticed until they were surrounded on all sides with uncontrollable bludgers. Plus they had 2 of their own that they had to deal with and it was absolute chaos. They coudn't handle it and as hard as they were dodging and trying to fly out they were too caught in the web of bludgers. It was complete pandemonium as the Gryffindors started one by one getting knocked off their brooms and falling all the way to the ground getting a few knocks from the bludgers on the way down too. Even the Weasley twins got knocked off eventually having never dealt with 22 bludgers at one time before. Soon everyone on the team was knocked down except Harry and he was struggling to get out of the web of bludgers and fly to the castle to get help. After a few bumps and bruises and some clever maneuvering he was out and he headed straight for the castle.  
  
Soon practically the entire school was outside watching the turmoil as the Gryffindor team was being scooped off the ground and taken to the hospital wing. The rest of the students in Gryffindor house were shocked and enraged and were rushing out to the stadium to see their injured housemates. Hermione was so upset she couldn't control herself. Madame Pompfey was in quite rampage and so was Mcgonagoll.  
  
"I have NEVER in all my years here at Hogwarts seen such violent behavior against another house," screamed Mcgonagoll at the Slytherins with a look of utter disgust and disappointment.  
  
"Oh you poor dears look at you! Hurry it up and get them to the hospital wing!" she yelled as she looked darkly at the Slytherins.  
  
Even Snape looked at them with a look of disappointment which was the worst blow of all. Even if he didn't say anything his look was enough to tell them they had gone too far.  
  
"Each and every single member of the Slytherin team has detention every day until further notice! I can't even fathom how many house points I'm going to take off! How many do you have now anyway?" shouted Mcgonagoll menacingly.  
  
"We only have 75 left Professor," on of the Slytherins replied.  
  
"75 house points?! That's completely ridiculous! Every single one will be taken off! I wasn't even thinking of taking off less than a 100! What utterly despicable behavior! I can't even think of anything more to say to you right now but there will be plenty more to come!" screamed Mcgonagoll as she turned around and went toward where the Gryffindors were being taken from.  
  
As she left though, the Slytherins saw Dumbledore walking out on to the field. The Slytherins were expecting quite a blow from Dumbledore but to their surprise he didn't say anything to them at all. They knew he had some major plans for them though...  
  
"There will be a staff meeting in 30 minutes in the Great Hall. All teachers are to attend. Thank you," said Dumbledore as he turned around and left abruptly, but not before giving the Slytherins a very withering glance. The Slytherins knew the meeting was concerning them but hey the Gryffindors deserve to be punished too, they weren't the only ones with bumps and bruises. The Slytherins were victims too...to some extent since the Gryffindors were playing cruel pranks as well. Everyone started filing back into the school and as it was Saturday, there were no classes so everyone just went back to their common rooms and waited until Breakfast. Everyone except Hermione. Before today she thought this entire feud between the houses was some silly phase that would end soon. But now she knew it wouldn't end and as she thought of all her friends that were unconscious in the hospital wing she went to deal with the situation her own way. Hermione loved her friends more than anyone in the world; they were like her family now. They were always there for her defending her whenever they could and now she had to defend them. She knew perfectly well who was behind all this so she took out her wand and went off looking for Draco Malfoy with the most rage she ever felt in her entire life.  
  
  
  
  
  
Woooww looks like Draco and Hermione might actuallyyy make some sort of contact isn't that amazing? LoL don't worry they'll be making A LOT of contact in later chapters just bear with me while I write all this sorta introductory crap LoL btw special thx to my friend melissa whoz been helpin me write some stuff and editing my chapters kk thx 4 reading this byee 


	3. Slytherin, Gryffindor.....Slythindor?

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter chracters or anything affiliated with them.  
  
Author's Note: Ok hopefully this chapter is where it starts to get interesting LoL Thanks sooo much if you're still reading this haha I know it kinda sucks LoL but maybe it'll get better...maybe haha This chapter is sorta dramatic tho that's probly gonna happen a few times thru this story it kinda switches. I'll try to keep it as humorous as i can tho.  
  
Slythindor  
  
Chapter 3: Slytherin, Gryffindor.....Slythindor?  
  
With her wand in her hand and rage in her eyes she set off to find Malfoy. Harry and Ron always defended her against him when he called her a mudblood or some other disgusting insult. Now she'd defend them but if only she could find that bloody git. Of all the Slytherins she hated him the most. He was always picking a fight with them for no reason at all except that he was a pompous jerk. Harry and Ron always got detention because of him and he got away with it most of the time too since Snape was always the teacher to catch them. They had never gotten so badly hurt though; Malfoy had never done anything so violent and over what? A Quidditch practice! She'll hex him so bad he won't know what hit him. Hopefully he was among the crowd still filing into the school. The crowd was thinning now and she was losing hope of finding him until she caught a glimpse of silvery blonde hair over in a corner away from the door. She rushed over there wondering why on earth he wasn't going in but she was glad she caught him.  
  
"Hey Malfoy, I've got a surprise for you," yelled Hermione looking very threatening.  
  
Draco looked up and Hermione noticed that he looked like he was deep in thought over something. She didn't care though and before he could say anything she knew what to do.  
  
"Petrificus Totalus!" she yelled and saw Malfoy go stiff with his body leaning on the castle. She looked at him a minute and noticed how even when he was unconscious he had this ominous look about him. His gray eyes went still as if in sleep and she just stood there looking at him realizing that she really hadn't decided what she would do next. Storm clouds were piling up in the sky and it looked like it would rain any minute and suddenly she had an idea. She decided instead of hexing him she'd leave him there in the rain for a couple of hours then he'll learn his lesson. She murmured a spell she learned last week that put a time on how long a spell would last and by the looks of the storm it looked a little harsh so she'd let him get soaked for an hour. She decided it wasn't much compared to being pelted by bludgers but she couldn't think of anything else so she left.  
  
A few minutes passed as she entered her common room and the storm had started. It looked pretty ok so far but about 15 minutes later the storm took a violent turn. The sky turned dark outside her window and she heard the wind howling strongly. She tried not to think about Malfoy but she thought about what he had done to Ron and Harry. He deserved it after what he had done. What kind of person releases 22 bludgers on people like that? At that moment hail started to fall and hit her window hard and she knew the answer to that question. Draco Malfoy, would do something terrible like that but not Hermione Granger. She put an extra robe on and rushed out of the common room. He was a human being after all even if he was a pretty rotten one. She had to push the door open hard as she struggled to get out of the castle. As soon as she got out there though she could hardly see a thing. She had never seen weather like this and in the middle of autumn too! After struggling against the wind and bearing the hail beating on her skin, she managed to bring herself near the spot where she left Malfoy and as she saw him she felt the most guilt she had ever felt as she saw icicles had formed on his hair and on his robes and she immediately undid the spell. She turned around and rushed back in the castle as best she could but before she did she glanced back and managed to see his body fall to the ground as he regained consciousness. He got up and she decided that he would find his way eventually so she rushed back up to Gryffindor Tower.  
  
"What in bloody hell happened to me?" murmured Draco to himself as he got up off the ground, "Why in God's name am I still out here?" he said as he struggled against the wind. He looked around him and wondered for a second whether he was somewhere far away as he had never seen such terrible weather around where Hogwarts was and he didn't exactly know what happened to him. It was as if he blanked out or something. That thought only lasted a second though as he saw that he was right next to the castle so he struggled to get back inside. He felt and extreme amount of cold but as he got back into Hogwarts he felt better but only about his warmth not the situation he was just in. He couldn't remember a thing about what happened. He tried to think back to what he was doing before he got into this mess as he walked down to his common room. After Mcgonagoll had given them that tongue-lashing and as everyone was filing into the school he remembered he had something bothering him and as he thought back to what it was, it started to bother him again. It was how he got so angry that Potter called him a Death Eater. He would be one soon after all and he had never had any sort of problem with it until now. Why, after Potter said that he could have sworn he was seeing red but he couldn't understand why. Was he ashamed at becoming a Death Eater? No, that couldn't be it; he would have realized it earlier. With Lucius pressuring him though maybe he hadn't realized that maybe that's not what he wanted to do. That was ridiculous though, that was his place and he knew it. He decided to stop thinking about it because as he entered the common room he was followed by stares that made it evident that people were wondering where he was as he looked as if he'd just been taken out of an ice cube and he saw 3 figures rushing towards him.  
  
"Where on EARTH were you?" asked Pansy dramatically which made it obvious she just wanted attention.  
  
"Why would you care Pansy?" Draco asked annoyed, shunning her as he turned to Crabbe and Goyle. As soon as he did though he wished he was facing some other direction.  
  
"Oh wow Draco did you just come from outside?" Crabbe asked curiously looking at the ice on Draco's head.  
  
"No, I was just having tea with the house elves when I got locked in the freezer bin!" Draco replied sarcastically.  
  
"I thought you didn't like tea," said Goyle staring at Draco blankly.  
  
"Yeah and house elves? What did you do join that mudblood's club?" Crabbe asked with a chuckle thinking he was very clever for making a joke. Meanwhile Draco wanted to just take both their heads and smash them together. Why was he friends with such idiots anyway? Sometimes he wondered what it would be like if his friends were smarter than HIM. That would never happen though, why if Crabbe and Goyle changed brains with their OWLS they would actually GAIN intelligence not lose any. Draco just turned and around and went upstairs. He took a hot shower and changed into his normal robes then decided to go for a walk. He needed to think things out and be alone for a while, because if he spent any more time with Crabbe and Goyle he'd probably go mad. The pain of a headache from them is probably worse then the Cruciatus curse, which he was going to perform on himself in a minute if he didn't get out of there soon.  
  
Meanwhile, in the Great Hall the teachers were discussing this new violent turn of events occurring at Hogwarts. The teachers were sitting in their lunch seats while Dumbledore stood before them ready to reveal his plan, which he thought was quite ingenious. He always loved to give his students a challenge and this idea definitely involved the challenge of the century. He even thought of a fun event that would enhance the theme of his plan but he would reveal that later on. After all the teachers had arrived and settled in, he began.  
  
"Ever since Hogwarts was built there has been a strong hatred between the two houses Slytherin and Gryffindor. I have never understood why since it seems Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw get along with everyone just fine. The other two houses however year after year have a strong rivalry and they simply detest each other and I have come up with a plan that I predict will end this dispute once and for all," said Dumbledore waiting for any comments before he proceeded.  
  
"You mean by separating them? Why, they're already on opposite sides of the castle!" said Mcgonagoll with a little confusion.  
  
"No, I think he means by not combing the two houses in classes," said Flitwick, "There was quite a brawl between Harry and Draco the other day as well as several other conflicts between the students."  
  
"Why don't we just punish them more as we've always done?" suggested Snape in his usual drawl.  
  
"Well, that doesn't seem to be working very well Severus," Mcgonagoll said, "Why your house had but 75 house points left and a ton of detentions and this incident still happened."  
  
Snape opened his mouth and was about to speak again in defense of his house but to his surprise he found himself closing it again as he found nothing to say. As hard as it was to admit it to himself, she was right. He hoped whatever Dumbledore had in mind, it had Gryffindor punished as well. A little more punishment wouldn't hurt either especially toward those blasted Weasley twins and his three favorite Gryffindors....  
  
"No, no it quite the opposite actually," Dumbledore said as the others looked at him expectantly," I will be combining the houses. Gryffindor and Slytherin will be no more now they will be called......Slythindor." The teachers just stared back at him until it hit them that it was the best idea they had ever heard. They sat talking about it excitedly and made plans to adjust everything and they knew that this was the solution. They knew the students would be resistant at first but at last they have a plan and a goal for peace between the two houses and this was the best way to do it. And most importantly of all they knew that if this worked, Hogwarts would never be the same.  
  
As they ended their discussion and filed out of the Great Hall Draco Malfoy was walking past wondering what the teachers were so excited about. With the happy looks on their faces though it seemed that maybe what they were planning wasn't so bad. He didn't care about that now anyway as he walked along trying to find a place to think. He walked along and eventually found himself in front of the library. This wasn't a place he visited too often but he decided that this was the perfect place to think so he went in. He glanced around and was trying to find a place to sit in a corner somewhere when he caught sight of a row of bookshelves he remembered led to secluded area with a table he used to sit at when he had to do some work in the library. They had just come out of summer vacation not too long ago and he really didn't get any assignments that required a trip to the library. It was pretty empty today since it was a Saturday so he was sure the table would be free but as he approached he saw that the table was quite occupied. It was piled so high with books that he could hardly see the occupant. All he could see was the person's hair which was a medium shade of brown and was very bushy and....oh no it better not be that Gryffindor mudblood. Then, as soon as he said this it hit him. She had done something to him, he remembered now before he went blank she had approached him looking like she was in a quite a rage and put a spell on him. He even remembered it! She had put him in a full body bind with "petrificus totalus." As she approached him he was annoyed that she had disturbed him while he was trying to think and before he knew it he was tumbling to the ground and in the middle of some hurricane. He got so angry that some disgusting Gryffindor had done that to him and a mudblood at that! How repulsive he thought, and before he knew it he was approaching the table ready to retaliate with fury building up inside of him. Nobody did that to Draco Malfoy and got away with it...nobody.  
  
  
  
o0oh no Hermione better take cover.mebbe she can hide under all them books she's got haha What will Draco do? How will Hermione respond? How will the student respond to the houses being combined? What else has does Dumbledore have in store for them? Hmmm...oh the suspeeeeeense!!!!!! Don't worry if ur actually reading this crap I update pretty frequently since I'm bored as hell so probably expect the next chapter like tomorrow LoL plzzz review I didn't want to pester you about it but I LUVVVV GETTING REVIEWS!!! LoL I haven't gotten any bad ones yet to my surprise so they're pretty fun 2 read haha well cya guyzz and feel free 2 e-mail me 


	4. Quests, Quirks, and Evil Smirks

Disclaimer: I do not own and of the Harry Potter characters or anything affiliated with them.  
  
Author's Note: Hey well I'm trying to keep everyone in character but in this chapter Hermione is kind of well...ferocious you might say LoL She's sorta like that in the books really the girl DOES have a temper. Didn't she smack Malfoy on the face in the 3rd book? o0o well she's reeeeally angry now so let's see how far her temper goes. Enough say...to raise her voice in the library? hmmm....maybe under the circumstances haha and how about everyone's temper as they find out about their "new house"? Shouldn't I be sayin this stuff on the last chapter to keep you in suspense? o0o well...  
  
Slythindor  
  
  
  
Chapter 4: Quests, Quirks and Evil Smirks  
  
"Granger! You filthy disgusting mud..." Malfoy began his rant but before he could finish, a very large textbook seemed to have just narrowly missed his head.  
  
"Don't even SAY it Malfoy!" said Hermione very annoyed that he was going to use the word mudblood again. He caught a glint of guilt in her eyes before she stood up from her seat and started shouting at him, which was odd for her since she was in the library. She seemed to forget that though as she yelled, "You keep your malicious comments to yourself!" as she gathered her notes and a couple of books.  
  
"Where's the fun in that?" he said as he smirked. Then, remembering what he was there to do, he approached the table. He was being cautious of course, seeing as how he really didn't want to have any more of those ridiculously gigantic books hurled at him. He noticed that she now was keeping herself busy gathering her things, and was avoiding him. Without making eye contact with him at all she picked up her things and started to walk away. She had decided earlier that instead of looking guilty as she usually did she would just act normally toward him. She thought she overdid it a little though; she really hadn't planned on throwing large books and screaming at him in the middle of the library. Maybe she was being a little TOO dramatic about it, but this way he wouldn't suspect anything.  
  
As she was walking past him though, he grabbed her by the arm and turned her around toward him and pulled her closer.  
  
"I know what you did to me Granger," he said slowly and threateningly, "You think you can play these games with me? You may have come to the rescue of your precious friends but what about now Granger? Who's going to defend you as I make you sorry for what you did to me?" he asked as he stared into her eyes with a look that told her he wasn't joking. Neither was she.  
  
She jerked her arm away from him and shoved him away from her. In a split second she had her wand out and had slammed all her books onto the floor, which made quite a noise, as she did it in a very hostile manner. Plus the books weighed as much as she did.  
  
"I'm quite capable of defending myself Malfoy and you know it!" she snapped, "Poor Malfoy was stuck in the rain boo hoo," she said as she made a crying face. "You deserved it! I might have saved you from staying in the rain the full time but I'll be happy to complete your punishment, I'm not someone to be trifled with Malfoy especially after what you did to Ron and Harry not to mention the rest of the people on the Gryffindor team. As a matter of fact after EVERYTHING you've done." Her voice was at maximum now and it was menacing. She was quite emotionally distraught by all the happenings at Gryffindor Tower recently and she had just come back from the hospital wing. From what she saw there, her attitude towards the Slytherins was at a below zero level.  
  
"Wait a minute, what do you mean by saving me? Do you mean to tell me I would have been out there LONGER? I have to say Granger, you're quite an amateur in not completing the job. I would have at least had some respect for your boldness in doing such a thing to a Malfoy."  
  
She just stood there wanting to hex herself now because of her slip. 'Well, I guess this is what you get for being loud and outspoken.', she mentally scolded herself. She wasn't very good at it.  
  
"Just sod off Malfoy! Sorry I'm not as good at malicious acts as you are but seeing as how you think you're so good at it, I guess I'd better work on it then because there's nothing I enjoy more than your annoyance that a muggle-born could POSSIBLY be more intelligent than you."  
  
She honestly did enjoy that. Every time he'd call her a mudblood she knew she at least had the satisfaction of knowing part of him was only annoyed that she was getting higher marks than him. Malfoy was now just staring at her with his dense gray eyes and a piece of his hair fell in front of them. She noticed his hair wasn't as well kempt as usual. He must have been really distracted since he was always known for keeping up his appearance. It seemed to have served him well as half the girls in the school were in love with him. Goyle made her wonder sometimes too...She, however thought he was the most vile person she had ever laid eyes on. Okay, maybe not vile in looks exactly but he revolted her in every other way possible. Right now he was livid.  
  
"More intelligent?! You don't seem to be in the right places because now I'm going to be teaching you a LESSON!" he bellowed as he raised his wand. She raised her wand as well and as they opened their mouths to say a spell...  
  
"Ms. Granger! Mr. Malfoy! What is the meaning of this? Having a brawl in the library are you? Out this instant both of you and 10 points from each house! That would leave your house with a negative 10 then wouldn't it Mr. Malfoy?" yelled Madam Pince as loud as she would bring herself to yell in the library.  
  
"But I was just studying and Malfoy..." Hermione began.  
  
"I don't want to hear it Ms. Granger. When you two come to realization that a library is no place for shouting and fighting you can come back." Madam Pince scolded sharply.  
  
Hermione reluctantly piled up her books off the floor and with an angry and disgraced look on her face she left. She couldn't believe she had just gotten kicked out of the library. It was her SANCTUARY. As she turned the corner outside the library she saw him coming out and she gave him a look that indicated that this wasn't over. She headed to the hospital wing and told Ron and Harry what had happened in the library. She hadn't told them about the storm incident though since that didn't go so well. They all called him the usual insults and she spent of the rest of the day there.  
  
Malfoy had decided that there was no such thing as a quiet place to think in Hogwarts since there would always be an annoying student distracting him. Maybe he should just lock himself in the bathroom.  
  
The next morning in the Great Hall was going to be remembered for a long time. A VERY long time. People cried, people laughed, people threw things, people pleaded for mercy, people cried for their mums, but all in all in was under control....to Dumbledore anyway. They didn't know what hit them as the morning had begun normally.  
  
Hermione beamed as she saw Harry and Ron approach the breakfast table. They had gotten out of the hospital wing that morning and aside from a couple of bandages they looked as good as new.  
  
"Hey there 'Mione" Ron greeted her as he grinned widely. He was glad to be out of that hospital and away from that damn psychotic Madam Pompfrey. If he had to sit silently to "preserve his energy" for one more minute or have that disgusting sleeping potion poured down his throat again he'd jump off the bloody castle walls and pray to land on the sharp rocks at the bottom of the moat. Harry was in a cheerful state himself as he sat down next to her.  
  
"Hey, I heard Dumbledore's got some big announcement for us. I overheard Madam Pompfrey and Mcgonagoll talking about it. It's sounds like good news; they were really excited when they were talking about it. Something about new arrangements for the Slytherins I hope they make them sleep in the middle of the Forbidden Forest. They'd probably have a search party every night looking for Voldemort begging him to make them his evil minions."  
  
"Yeah it would be great just kicking them out of the castle. Maybe I can study peacefully in library for once without one of them making a threat on my life for god's sake." Hermione said.  
  
Over at the Slytherin table Draco was watching Hermione laugh with her friends. There was something about that girl that just annoyed him. It's like she always had to be better than everyone else. Always acting so happy and perfect. Maybe what really annoyed him was that she wasn't acting. She was always happy and content with her friends. Then he realized his problem; maybe she wasn't acting perfect, maybe she really was. That was laughable; she was a mudblood after all and a Gryffindor at that. He'd kill himself if he were in her place...or would he? There were some things in here life that he found that he longed for, but deep down. Right then he felt a pang of annoyance at that thought. He kept feeling them a lot quite recently especially when he was around his father, or more accurately, around Crabbe and Goyle. But at least he could hurt them whenever they annoyed him. He was just caught in a web of things that were bothering him, the list just kept on growing and he hoped there wouldn't be anything else he'd have to add.  
  
"Hey, I heard Dumbledore's got some big announcement for us. I overheard Madam Pince and Snape talking about it. Something about new arrangements for the Gryffindors, I hope they make them sleep in the middle of the Forbidden Forest. Voldemort would probably have a search party for them every night so he could watch them begging him for mercy," said Blaise Zabini with a chuckle. Malfoy grinned, or it was more like a quarter smile as the side of his mouth curled up only a tiny bit. Blaise looked like she was going to pass out so, never letting an opportunity like that go by he grinned all the way. She lost consciousness faster than he had estimated and fell over onto Millicent Bullstrode. Millicent unfortunately had only caught a last glimpse of his rare smile and cursed herself on deciding to stop staring at him a minute before. Blaise came back into consciousness though as Dumbledore called everyone's attention for his important announcement.  
  
"Due to recent incidents between Gryffindor and Slytherin houses, I have decided to eliminate them. As of right now they do not exist," he said as normally as he would say 'pass the mashed potatoes'. They just stared at him. Then stared some more. He had paused and they were getting more confused by the second.  
  
"What a bloody lunatic," mumbled Draco not believing a word and half expecting to see people burst in and carry Dumbledore to St. Mungo's.  
  
"All your clothing and other possessions have been removed from the Tower and the Dungeon," Dumbledore continued.  
  
The blank and confused stares continued. Fear was added now also as they stared some more with their mouths agape. He smiled, as if enjoying this a great deal then kept going.  
  
" They have been placed in a new annex of the castle. As of right now there is a new house containing both the students formerly in Slytherin and Gryffindor. You are all members of a new house called Slythindor. I wish you all well in settling your differences as you have all now been combined into one house. Now to get to our new annex you will have to go down the south hallway, to the left, up the stairs, down the west corridor, to the right, down another fight of stairs, then next to the statue you will see a picture of a horse. That's not the picture you're looking for. Turn around then you'll see a door leading down another staircase and a picture of a knight. That isn't the picture you're looking for either. Open the door and go down that staircase, around that corridor, down another flight of steps and THEN you'll come upon the picture frame that you are looking for. That is the door leading to your brand new common room. It's quite nice, the teachers and I designed it ourselves. I think it'll suit you all perfectly. Your schedules have been adjusted as well and so all your classes will be combined also. I do hope you like your new common room and when you eat flowers swallow petal by petal and remember to rip off the stem. Thank you." He concluded as he sat back down and finished up his Sunday breakfast.  
  
By this point they all had completely stopped blinking. Gradually they started moving again but mostly they were just pinching themselves to see if they were dreaming. Some just kept on pinching trying not to lose hope that it was all in their imagination and they wouldn't be sharing a common room with the people they hated most in the entire world. They watched as Dumbledore was finishing up his breakfast. They had lost their appetite.. .at least the Gryffindors and Slytherins anyway. The Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws just sat there wearing angelic faces and after a few seconds they just returned to their meal. Then all of a sudden as the other houses began to accept their state of consciousness, all hell broke loose. The teachers tried to maintain control as students just totally lost it. Some people just broke down and cried thinking of the torment they were going to have to live with. Others were just hurling food at the opposite table or anything else they could get their hands on. The rest just went totally ballistic while the other houses found this scene quite funny.  
  
Soon everyone just started storming out of the Great Hall heading for their normal common rooms, still disbelieving of these consequences they had to face. But as the Gryffindors approached the tower they soon realized it had completely disappeared. The tower just wasn't there it was just a wall and the fat lady in the pink dress picture was nowhere to be seen. The Slytherins experienced a similar disappointment. As they neared their snake picture that opened up to a staircase leading down to the dungeons they realized the dungeons had totally been removed. There was just a solid wall now. Of course, the students from both houses hadn't remembered where their new common room was due to the fact that Dumbledore has a natural talent of speaking 100 words per minute. They just walked around until they both met at either side of a corridor that had another hallway leading opposite them and there was a sign saying "THIS WAY TO THE ANNEX----" pointing toward the opposite hallway. While staring daggers at each other they all walked until Colin Creevey noticed something stuck onto the wall.  
  
"What's this thing?" he asked. It was a puzzle piece and it was about the size of his palm and had some pink and green stuff on it. When he turned it around though it said 'Find more to open the door to Slythindor.' "Looks like we have to find more of these then." He walked a few more steps and found another one sticking out from behind a picture and it said the same thing on the back. He had caught other people's attention and soon, everyone started looking for them. They seemed to be scattered all over the place and were leading them down a long intricate path. They went down and up staircases and along lengthy corridors. Soon everyone had at least one puzzle piece in their hand. Crabbe and Goyle didn't have one though until they made Colin hand over his since they had only at the last minute caught on to what everyone was looking for.  
  
After they had finally gone down the final flight of steps they came upon a picture frame with the corner puzzle pieces already put in. As they started to try to put all the pieces in and having a hard time, a little known fact about Seamus Finnigan became apparent as he seemed to know exactly what to do.  
  
"Ok who's got the pieces with the straight edges? Those go along the sides. We have to work our way in and if you see you have a similar piece as someone else combine them so we'll have big pieces to add at one time," he said as he started collecting the straight edged pieces from people. He was helping Gryffindors with their pieces or snatching them from Slytherins (then running).  
  
This of course was a little plan of Dumbledore's to get them all to work together. It was kind of working...in it's own special way of course.  
  
"Give me that piece you shaggy haired troll it goes with mine!" Pansy snapped at Harry as she grabbed one of the pieces he had.  
  
"Well if you'd just stand right there I'd probably be able to fix my hair since I can see my reflection in your lip gloss!" he retorted as he walked away hiding the rest of his pieces in case another annoying Slytherin tried to take them.  
  
Hermione's piece had half a woman's lips on it and after looking at everyone's piece she still couldn't find the other half. That was her only piece and she wanted to find its match so she'll have actually accomplished something. There was only one person she didn't check with but he was the last person on earth she felt like making any sort of contact with. She saw Malfoy was standing in a corner by himself lost in thought again. She reluctantly started to walk towards him. He looked up at her though and before she knew it she had turned around and walked the other way, and she could have sworn she saw him smirk at her. She scolded herself for her lack of nerve; she shouldn't back out just because of Malfoy. 'Now he probably thinks I'm afraid of him or something,' she thought. She felt anger stir inside of her at that thought so she turned around again and haughtily approached him.  
  
"Malfoy I need your puzzle piece so hand it over," she said in her usual bossy tone.  
  
"You mean...this?" he asked as he looked up at her then at his piece. He really had no intention of participating in the game at all but he had stepped on this piece so he picked it up. Maybe it might be useful after all...  
  
"Yeah that's it, I have the other half" she said as she looked at it when he flashed it at her.  
  
"Looks like I'd better give it to you then before you body bind me again. I wouldn't want to be stuck out here all night..."  
  
"Shut up Malfoy MAYBE if I released 22 Bludgers on you it'll work better!"  
  
"You think so huh?" he said nonchalantly while tossing the puzzle piece in the air and catching it. Her eyes followed it as it went up and down and he liked seeing that she wasn't getting what she wanted for once. She had crossed her arms and her face had a very annoyed look now, as she knew he was toying with her.  
  
"YES I DO, now just give me the puzzle piece because the sight of you is starting to make me nauseous!"  
  
"The sight of ME mudblood? What about the sight of YOU in front of me? Us Malfoy's don't usually make contact with too many beavers begging us for favors."  
  
"Augh, if you aren't the most disgusting, vile, despicable person I have EVER...Accio Puzzle Piece!" she said suddenly and she started laughing hysterically as it flew into her hands. If he thought that she was some sort of toy for him to play with he had another thing coming. She figured she'd take him by surprise while she was telling him off. She laughed even more as she saw his face turn livid with anger. She walked off happily and attached his piece with hers and formed a complete mouth.  
  
"Ok we only have 2 pieces left to put, who has them? Seems like we need the mouth here," announced Seamus pointing at the picture.  
  
"I have them!" Hermione said placing them on the picture while making sure to give Malfoy a look.  
  
Suddenly a great flash of light came from the picture as it came to life. The picture was the strangest thing they had ever seen, as it was a fat lady in a pink dress wrestling a green snake. The lines had disappeared and all of a sudden the lady in the pink dress started speaking to them as she was trying to pin the snake down.  
  
"Welcome Slythindors! Did you have fun completing the puzzle? That Dumbledore's got a lot more under his sleeve in store for you, you know. Anyhoo, you probably want to see your new common room so I have a little poem here for you that explains how to get in." She body slammed the snake and cleared her throat as she began... "You don't need a password, and you won't need a key,  
  
First you must find tranquility,  
  
If you want to pass through, this is what you must do,  
  
Show a sign of peace to the other house as due,  
  
A kind word perhaps or maybe a gesture,  
  
This is what you must do to get through the picture.  
  
Now if you'll excuse me I have some things I need to take care of." The snake had wrapped himself around her waist by now and the students just stared at the picture looking absolutely dumbstruck.  
  
They were still standing there after a while with everyone refusing to utter a kind word about the other house. Hermione, being the only apparent intelligent person, saw how she was not about to stand here all day and besides she didn't have to MEAN anything she said. She left Ron and Harry to their surprise, and made her way to the picture.  
  
"Umm...most of the Slytherins manage to brush their hair every day." She said as quietly as possible. She also glanced over to Blaise, her reason for using the word 'most'. The other students realized what she just did as the door swung open and they all filed in with the Slytherins giving her dirty yet appreciative glances...if that was possible. When they walked in they thought they had gone crazy, as it was the weirdest room they had ever seen. It was a gigantic room with lots of furniture all over it but on every single item in the room there were these intertwined patterns using the colors of both houses. Some were used in a checkered pattern, some were striped, and others were polka dot. Even the carpet had crazy designs except it was a zigzag. They glanced up above the fireplace and saw both the Gryffindor and Slytherin coat of arms together but beneath them they saw a much bigger one that said Slythindor on it. They also noticed that some patches of the wall were of the same kind as in the tower and others were built with the kind of bricks in the dungeon.  
  
"I should have figured it was going to look like a bloody madhouse as soon as I heard Dumbledore had designed it." Malfoy said with a look of disgust at the colorful room.  
  
"He mentioned that the teachers had helped him though so I guess the dormitories won't be so bad," said Hermione as she walked upstairs to the girl's dormitory with some other girls following her. When she opened the door, to her dismay it wasn't any better, it was worse if possible. There were the same crazy colorful patterns on everything from the curtains to the bed sheets but the crazy patterns had just Slytherins colors on one bed and just Gryffindor colors on the next, which meant they actually had to sleep on the bed next to someone from the opposite house. They all groaned at the sight of this and walked back downstairs.  
  
By the next day the common room was completely divided as the Slytherins sat on one side and the Gryffindors sat on the other, absolutely refusing to acknowledge that anyone from the other house was even in the same room but even still, arguments broke out all over the place over the smallest things. All this was before breakfast too and to their dismay they heard Dumbledore has something else planned for them that he was going announce during breakfast. As they walked out the door though they realized that they had absolutely no idea how to get to the Great Hall. They had followed the trail the puzzle pieces had left yesterday. Hermione had walked a little further down the corridor though and she saw a sign.  
  
"Hey look, it says 'This way to the Great Hall---'" she said as she gestured at everyone to come look. It was pointing to a door and as she opened it she saw that it was some long tunnel path and as she opened the other door on the other side she was directly facing the door to the great hall.  
  
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" she exclaimed, "We had to walk all that way yesterday and the door was right here!"  
  
Several other similar exclamations along with many grunts and groans followed as they all miserably filed into the Great Hall. To their dismay they saw that now instead of their tables being the farthest from each other they were right along side one other now. Their mood couldn't have been any worse. Just as they were sitting down, Dumbledore started to talk again with them just glaring at him.  
  
"Good morning, I do hope you Slythindors enjoyed your little quest yesterday", he said beaming, with the Slythindors giving him looks that indicated that they did anything but enjoy it, "I believe today's announcement will be more to your liking. There will be a Masquerade Ball. There will be details about it at lunch. Enjoy your breakfast. Remember not to let your nibbets run free. Thank you." He said all this in a ridiculously abrubt way and they were very annoyed about it. Plus they had no idea what nibbets were. They were getting excited about this masquerade ball though and they wondered just what kind of details he was talking about...  
  
  
  
  
  
Ok wow this chapter took me FOREVER to write LoL sum1 said my chapters were really short so I wrote a long one haha thx to all who reviewed tho u ppl are so nice!!!! Lotsa motivation you guys are great! Plzzzz review if you haven't tho thxx 


	5. Threats, Fights, and Poltergeists

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry potter characters or anything affiliated with them.  
  
Author's Note: I know, I know the ending to the last chapter was reeeeally lame but I had to end it somehow and I wanted to post it up quick cuz it took longer than expected. I don't think this chapter will be too long tho we'll see how it goes and ppl plzzzz review thx so0o much for the ppl that reviewed already ur really nice thxx =) Hmmm...this chapter isn't really very funny but don't worry I'll make up for that next chapter hehe  
  
Slythindor  
  
Chapter 5: Threats, Fights, and Poltergeists  
  
The students had spent the rest of their Breakfast chattering excitedly about the ball but afterwards their classes seemed to drag on forever. Plus the Slytherins and Gyffindors had to deal to their new combined schedules as well as each other. The teachers kept purposely combining the houses when they assigned groups and Hermione ended up with Blaise Zabini and Malfoy during Potions. She found it pretty funny how Blaise just couldn't keep her eyes off of Malfoy and unquestionably obeyed whatever he asked her to do. It was also kind of disturbing though as Malfoy seemed to be enjoying it a great deal. He didn't have such ease with Hermione though. Those pangs of annoyance just kept coming as every second she would correct him on something plus he was still annoyed about that puzzle piece. She had managed to outsmart him and it really irritated him, not to mention the whole library incident. He thought maybe he was so aggravated because she was so challenging and to be quite honest that hasn't happened before. He had at least assumed if someone like that ever came up it wouldn't be a mudblood. Oh well at lest he'd always have his good looks to console him...  
  
"Malfoy pay attention! Just because your head's been in the clouds lately doesn't mean I'm going to let you screw up this potion," Hermione snapped at him as she saw that he was staring into space while cutting up the canary beetles.  
  
"Shut up mudblood, I think I can manage cutting up beetles and I was just thinking about how I would rather YOU were under this knife right now," he shot back as he smirked with Blaise having a questionable state of consciousness.  
  
"What's with you and the word 'mudblood'? Can't think of a better insult?" she snapped as she shot him a dirty look.  
  
"Sorry beaver would you rather filthy scum or maybe a worthless excuse for a witch? Hmmm...hold on this might take a while, although mudblood did suit you a lot better if you ask..." his retort was cut short as Hermione got up from her seat smacked him square on the face. Draco's eyes flashed as he got up from his seat with the knife still in his hand. By this time all eyes were on them but Draco hadn't realized he was still holding the sharp object and a wearing threatening expression on his face. As he realized it though he had a strange feeling of contempt for himself as he dropped it onto the table and sat down again feeling disgusted at his actions even though he didn't mean to be holding a knife threateningly to a girl. Then AGAIN he felt that overwhelming sense of confusion that's been hitting him a like tidal wave every time he thought such ridiculous things. He just didn't get it, he was going to be a Death Eater soon yet he can't even handle waving a knife around. He was capable of several other malicious acts of course, but when imposing any life-threatening situation on someone he couldn't handle it. He was becoming soft like his father had told him. He always tried to ignore Lucius because he was always putting him down about everything and it's like his father didn't matter anymore, he was never good enough anyway. He was getting more and more frustrated about it, but his father kept telling him he'd have to get used to being put down if he was going to serve the Dark Lord. Maybe it was this damn school, with that idiotic muggle-loving headmaster and all this "be nice to your enemies" rubbish. He couldn't stand it yet it seemed to have affected him somehow and it aggravated him impossibly.  
  
Good thing Snape didn't see anyway, him and Longbottom were a bit occupied trying to settle his potion that seemed to be sprouting something or other. Harry and Ron had gotten up though, but as Draco dropped the knife Hermione seemed to have given them an "it's-ok-calm-down" look so they sat back down although they had alarming looks on their faces and their fists were clenched hard. Hermione was staring at Draco now with an inexpressible look. It was a look of some range of anger, disgust, and surprise, but there was also tinge of fear that he could sense but wasn't indicated by her expression. The beetles were the last ingredient to add to the potion so soon they were done. After Malfoy had gotten up though he found himself surrounded by Gryffindors who appeared to be fuming with anger. Harry and Ron approached him first with expressions that made it clear that they inetnded to hurt him.  
  
"Malfoy how DARE you hold a knife up to Hermione, I ought to snap your neck after that stunt you pulled!" Ron shot at him while making a gesture of him breaking something in half.  
  
"I'd dare to do quite a few things Weasley," Draco replied silkily, " Now I dare YOU to take your poor, dirty, freckled arse and get out of my way!"  
  
Ron lunged at him but he felt someone pull him back suddenly. Hermione emerged from behind him wearing the same expression she had on before except this time Draco didn't sense fear but rage. She held Ron back a minute until he calmed down and then confronted Draco herself. She noticed him roll his eyes as she began.  
  
"I see you've resorted to using knives now Malfoy, forgot how to use a wand?" she said mockingly as she waved her wand around," I just want you to know one thing Malfoy, you can call me a mudblood all you want, but I will NOT tolerate being called a worthless excuse for a witch because as far as I know, I'm a better one than you!"  
  
"You think so, huh Granger? You might be good at reading and studying, but magic? You can never match a pureblood at it. That's something you'll just have to accept..." he replied in slightly mocking tone but mostly he was plainly relaying information to her as if he knew it was true and she just had to understand. His father had explained this concept to him many times. The Gryffindors looked beside themselves with anger and they all had their wands out. Hermione was giving him a look of sheer contempt, and to everyone's surprise she told them all to leave. They were kind of upset about missing the fight of the century but they knew Hermione had to deal with him and would tell them all the details later anyway. She saw him roll his eyes again and...look at his reflection in the window?  
  
"Malfoy, I didn't know you were so vain..." she said as she inched closer to him.  
  
"It wouldn't hurt if you were a little vain yourself Granger," he retorted without looking at her as he was still fixing his hair. She was behind him now and she placed her wand at the nape of his neck. He turned around and stared at her with a very amused look. She was dragging the wand across the front of his neck as she moved around him with a threatening look on her face. He was laughing now as she approached his back but to her, this was no laughing matter. She grabbed him and turned him around. She had her wand at the center of his neck now as he started to laugh even harder.  
  
"Ooh feisty, I didn't know you had it in you Granger, I would have expected you to burst into tears AGES ago," he drawled as Hermione's rage intensified. He was right though, she was usually really emotional but Malfoy always manages to say just the right thing to set her temper off. He also knew just the right thing to bring her to tears too but hopefully it wouldn't come to that...  
  
"Malfoy, I don't think you realize what I could do to you right now," she whispered in his ear as she grazed the wand into his neck a little more. He had the wildest smirk on his face now and it irritated her that he was enjoying this so much.  
  
"Whoa, Granger, I always knew you had a hidden passion for me, but don't you think you should tone it down a bit?" he said still smirking. She looked absolutely apoplectic with anger. He was studying her now, trying to size her up, and saw that she wasn't to be underestimated. He didn't know why but she looked a lot better when she was angry. Her soft curls fell onto her face from both sides and her deep brown eyes looked intense as she was glaring at him. He almost thought for a second that she was...pretty? She was no beauty, but she had this luminescence he couldn't explain. It was probably from always being so cheerful that even when she was angry that certain radiance she always had, seems to shine through and he bizarrely found himself attracted to her. Augh, great on top of his hair being messed up he was having delusions! He was now becoming angry with himself as he now realized he couldn't control himself anymore. He was a Malfoy after all, and these sympathetic feelings and outrageous thoughts had to stop. He took out his wand, and Hermione watched as his expression changed from one of amusement to one of anger and resentment. He pushed her away from him.  
  
"Get away from me mudblood," he said sharply as they both stood pointing their wands at eachother.  
  
"Not before you take back what you said about me being a worthless excuse for a witch!" she shouted, "I'm not afraid of you! I don't care if you're Death Eater!  
  
"I'm NOT a Death Eater!" he shouted back almost screaming now. Suddenly, he found himself absolutely taken aback by the way he had said that. As if being a Death Eater was the worst thing in the world and the last thing he would ever be. He was disgusted at himself and grew more frustrated with how confusing everything was by the minute. He grew even angrier knowing how less difficult her life was. She was eying him now with a look of surprise and suspicion.  
  
"What are you talking about Malfoy?" she said sounding very curious. Why was he so touchy about being a Death Eater? With the way HE acts you'd think he'd been one for years. He had looked very distraught after he had said it though, and now he wore an expression that showed frustration and confusion.  
  
"None of your business Granger! It's nothing a dirty little mudblood would understand anyway!"  
  
"Augh! You disgust me Malfoy and I'll show you just how...what the hell?!" She exclaimed as her wand was snatched out of her hands. Malfoy's wand was gone too but when they looked up Peeves was hanging upside down from the ceiling with his stomach stretched a great deal and he was holding both their wands.  
  
"Wheeee, would you look at that?" he said, as he was springing up and down, "Well if it isn't a couple of the Slythindors having a little brawl! Hee hee, and don't they look absolutely LIVID? These are a nice pair of wands I've got right here; I think I can wreak quite a bit of havoc with these two! I think I'll add them to my collection..."  
  
"Don't you dare run off with my wand Peeves!" Hermione yelled looking helpless.  
  
"Why should I run when I can just...disappear through the walls?" he said as he snapped up and half his body went through the ceiling.  
  
"Just give us our wands back you brainless poltergeist!" Draco shouted not realizing he had said "our."  
  
"Ooh so you want you're girlfriend's wand back too I see!" he said gleefully,  
  
"She is NOT my girlfriend," he said defensively as he gave her a disgusted look.  
  
"Putting a love spell on her then perhaps? Hee hee!"  
  
"Peeves! I'm late for lunch now give it here!" Hermione shouted at him looking very disgusted herself, but also embarrassed and frustrated, as she was getting very impatient.  
  
"Catch 'em if you caaaaann" he said as he started spinning wildly from the ceiling like a fan. He let go of the wands and they each fell on opposite sides of the hall, then he sprung up and disappeared through the ceiling.  
  
They both went over and picked up their wands, but before they left they glanced at each other with disdainful looks and then headed to the Great Hall.  
  
They had walked in at different times but as each of them walked in they realized things had just gotten worse. Instead of two different tables for each house there was one big Slythindor table. Dumbledore felt that since they were one house it only made sense that they should have one table. They didn't seem to see the logic in that though as they groaned and sat down. When Hermione got to the table everyone was looking at her with curious expressions but the look she was wearing told them that she wasn't in the mood to talk. She had gotten there just in time though, as Dumbledore was just about to make the announcement about the ball. He looked like he had a lot to say as his eyes twinkled and he eyed everyone with a cheerful expression.  
  
"Throughout the history of Hogwarts there have been rivalries between the houses. There was very strong enmity, predominantly between two particular houses"; he began while eying the Slythindor table, "That was why I combined them and I'm sure you all will get along just fine eventually. This was the perfect way to settle all your disagreements and to end this rivalry once and for all. You all must understand that there is an underlying theme for all this, and the fact is that it doesn't matter what house you are in. You are all students here at Hogwarts and the initial purpose of the creation of the houses was just to teach the different values that our founders thought were most important. None of the values were better or worse than the others, they were equal. You were put in each house based on those values but that doesn't make any one house better than the other in any way. So, to help you all understand that it doesn't mater what house you are in; Hogwarts will be hosting a Masquerade Ball. It will take place on the Friday after the next. There will be a different theme for each night and they are they following: The 1st night's theme will be Victorian where you will wear the customary clothes of the era, The 2nd night's theme will be a modern muggle dance where you will wear muggle dress clothes, and the 3rd night will be a traditional Hogwarts Ball and your identities will be revealed. Your masks will be charmed to disappear at a certain random time during the night. There will be a trip to Hogsmeade this weekend, where you will pick up your costumes from "Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions" since she's been notified of the ball and has all that you will need for each theme. Also throughout the week, Professor Flitwick will be teaching charms that will enable you to temporarily change your voices, hair colors, and eye colors. I'd also like to lay down a few general rules: No one is allowed to reveal their identities throughout the ball and you cannot try to find out what everyone is wearing as these will cease the cause of the underlying theme that it doesn't matter what house you are from. Which leads to the fact that there will be no pre-chosen partners to this ball as it is going to be completely random. And on a final note there will be no Quidditch Cup this year as there will be a special Tournament that everyone will be participating in. Details will be revealed after the ball. Thank you all and keep in mind what a famous muggle president by the name of Abraham Lincoln said, ""Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?" and also Fabbit! Marlik! Glibbit! Ronk! Enjoy the rest of your lunch!  
  
It took the students a while to take in all of this information but eventually the Great Hall was buzzing excitedly about the Masquerade Ball and the Tournament. Some were a little disappointed about there not being any Quidditch but nothing good had come out of it this year anyway.  
  
After lunch they managed to finish the rest of their classes without any fights breaking out and Hermione had told everyone what had happened even though it wasn't much. After classes were over Draco went back to the common room (Harry had commented on how the Slytherins had nice teeth to get in) and he sat on the couch opposite the fireplace. It was quite a large fireplace and it made the couch feel warm when he sat on it. The couch was silver, green, red and gold having an intertwined pattern between the colors forming patches. Draco thought it looked utterly ridiculous along with everything else in the room. He had received another letter from his father yesterday and was going to burn it as he did to the rest of the letters he gets from Lucius. They were just useless put-downs and by now he had figured it was absolutely pointless to read them. It hit him then though that maybe it wasn't. He was acting strange lately, malicious as usual of course but not AS malicious as he should be. He reluctantly opened the letter figuring it would probably benefit him in the long run and it said:  
  
Draco,  
  
I see you have not been replying to my letters. Seems like Hogwarts has taken a toll on your already pathetic mentality on the situation at hand. I assume you still remember where our meeting spot in the Forbidden Forest is so you will meet me there Thursday at sunset. There are things of dire consequence we must discuss and I do hope your feeble mind will be able to handle anything of that importance.  
  
Regards, Lucius Malfoy  
  
Draco read over the letter several times and he realized that his father was right. The school had taken a toll on him but it wouldn't anymore. He wondered what his father wanted to tell him so badly, but he knew it wouldn't be good. It was probably just a ploy to get him to go, but he'd be in a load of trouble if he didn't show up. Not to mention everyone thinking he had lost faith in the Dark Lord. That's just not possible...  
  
  
  
  
  
Another lame ending of another chapter of this crappy story haha Will Draco and Hermione EVER stop fighting? What's everyone gonna pick out at Hogsmeade? And what's Draco's dad going to tell him or...do to him? Next chapter should be up sumtime this weekend kk? Weird.I must have some subliminal messages in here sumwhere since you guys actually seem to like this fic and that's PRETTY bizarre hahaha PLZZZZ REVIEW it means A LOT trust me ****btw special thx to my friend Kristen whoz been helping me out her user name is SweetWater go read her story it's also a reeeeeeallyyy good original D/Hr fic called The Mistake They Can't Deny and also read Draco Malfoy, the Amazing Bouncing... Rat? By Sharon Armstrong I guarantee you will be rolling the floor laughing it's the funniest thing you will EVER READ LoL trust me haha byee 


	6. Swallops, Smoke and Mysterious Cloaks

Disclaimer: I do no own any of the Harry Potter characters or anything affiliated with them. Marbitmur  
  
Author's Note: Ahhhhh!!!! I'm leaving for my vacation so this chapter ended up being really short I'm soo sorry!! I think I'm gonna add to it when I come back tho ok? ppl asked how many chapters this going to be but to be honest I have no0o0o idea it's probably gonna be pretty long though but I usually don't take too much time to update. And what a laaame chapter name I'm gonna change it later haha  
  
Slythindor  
  
Chapter 6: Swallops, Smoke and Mysterious Cloaks  
  
A few days later things weren't any better at the Slythindor common room. Fights still broke out when anyone invaded the other's space, and the common room door took ages to open. Apparently being good at malicious acts wasn't a compliment. The Slytherins managed to compliment the Gryffindors on their breathing ability though and it counted as something. No gesture of kindness was experimented yet though, they would rather hug a blast- ended skrewt than shake hands. Just the day before Draco, Ron, Harry, and Hermione ended up stuck out in the hall together with everyone trying to compliment the other. Well, Malfoy just entirely refused to participate since he figured they all needed to get in and with him being the only Slytherin, he would just stand there till they complimented him. After a "Malfoy is good at insulting poltergeists" from Hermione" and a "Good servant of the Dark Lord" from Ron they managed to get in when Harry said that "Malfoy had good eyesight." Well, not ALL of them got in; Malfoy had gotten restless before that and decided to go fix his hair at a nearby window so when they opened it they rushed in leaving him out there with his reflection. Which was devastatingly gorgeous of course in his opinion...and those Hufflepuff girls staring at him from across the corridor.  
  
When the trio got into the common room Harry and Ron sat at a chess table while Hermione sat across from them in a very tall polka-dotted chair. Ron and Harry started playing while Hermione reached under the chair and pulled up a book. They threw her a "you-have-books-everywhere-don't-you" look then returned to their game. A little while later though they looked up to see Malfoy enter the common room with Neville following looking very traumatized. They gestured him to come and sit near them so he approached them with an awfully distraught expression his face. He sat on a comfy looking chair that was apparently tie-dyed with all the house colors.  
  
"You okay Neville? Your face is a little. really pale, what's wrong?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Malfoy made me compliment him to get into the room" he said while shuddering at the thought.  
  
"What did he make you say?" Ron asked glancing over at Malfoy who looked distressed over something.  
  
"Well...promise not to tell anyone first!," he said and they all promised, "He made me tell the portrait that Draco Malfoy was the most gorgeous bloke on the face of the Earth." They saw him grimace at that and they all shot Malfoy repulsed looks.  
  
"What did he do to you to make you say it?" Harry asked knowing what Malfoy was capable of.  
  
"He just pointed his wand at me and gave me this Death Eater look then told me to say it or he'd do a special hex You-Know-Who taught him how to do"  
  
"He did, did he? Why if that bugger isn't lying then I'm a Dementor!" Harry said then shook his head.  
  
"Don't listen to him Neville, that spoiled little wanker's full of it!" Ron said then glanced at his watch, "We should get going guys we told Hagrid we'd meet him when it starts to get dark."  
  
"Yah, but we have to finish the game," Harry said gesturing to the board.  
  
"Oh, hmm..." Ron moved a piece and to Harry's surprise it smashed his king to pieces.  
  
"What?! That wasn't fair you cheated! How did you do that in one move?" Harry exclaimed questionably.  
  
"Oh stop being sore now come on and you too Hermione put that book away!" Ron said as he dragged them both out of their seats since it was getting dark already and Hagrid said he had some new creature to show them. They were a little apprehensive at first but they did enjoy seeing all of Hagrid's rare magical creatures. This was the first time they had left the castle since they had gotten combined so when they got outside they noticed a huge difference. There was this odd looking shape sticking out from the middle of the castle. Not only that but Gryffindor Tower was completely removed and the strangest thing they saw was that a complete section of the castle was missing toward the southeast side. A huge chunk was just not there and there was a rectangular looking hole. They soon realized though that the odd shape was their new common room as they saw that it had chunks of both parts of the castle built into it. They knew Dumbledore combined the students in the houses but they didn't realize that he literally combined both houses. Both their common rooms seemed to have just been merged together into one big figure. After staring at it a while with astonishment, and wondering what kind of spell could possibly do that, they kept walking. As they approached Hagrid's hut they saw a great deal of smoke coming out of the chimney and through the windows. They knocked on his door almost afraid of what exactly awaited them inside and of where on earth all this smoke was coming from. As Hagrid opened the door though they could hardly see him through all the smoke and he gestured for them to wait a minute. Through the smoke they could make out some pink object being waved around and then as if a fan had gone on, it cleared out all the smoke.  
  
"Sorry 'bout that, yeh'll have to excuse the smoke, these things have been givin' me a bit o' trouble" Hagrid said as he coughed and pointed to these round looking creatures. They were covered with white or black fur and had round mouths with sharp teeth aligned all around their blue lips. They had no particular size seeing as how when they breathed in they became inflated but when the exhaled they shrunk.  
  
"What are these called?" Harry asked looking at them inquisitively.  
  
"They're called Swallops and they release smoke when they get agitated. What yeh just saw was just a MILD agitation. Fang here's been barkin' at 'em. There are some very dangerous things that could happen when they get very annoyed. I heard their smoke takes some sort o' shape and...oh I don't know jus' don't upset 'em is all."  
  
"Can we pick them up?" Hermione asked, "They look kinda cute."  
  
"Those things? Girls think every furry little thing is cute! Why those things look ferocious, it'd probably bite my finger off! Look at its teeth!" Ron exclaimed pointing at one of their mouths and to his horror its mouth seemed to snap shut and he let out a loud yelp as he ran back from them.  
  
"Thanks for the demonstration Ron," Hermione said laughing.  
  
"Well at least I was right," he said leaning against the wall and crossing his arms.  
  
They spent the rest of the time with Hagrid talking about everything that's happened with the houses. He told them that only several witches and wizards could do a spell on the castle like that. They also told him about their crazy looking common room and he said that Dumbledore and Flitwick had most of the say in that and that they worked very hard on it. Dumbledore didn't let any of the teachers sleep until they were finished. He even made Filch work on it but he let him and Snape leave when they kept suggesting crazy ideas, plus Mrs. Norris was scratching the furniture. Snape wanted the whole thing black and Filch kept going on about some hanging students by their thumbs punishment saying what all this combining stuff was unnecessary from the beginning. They were very interested in all of this; but a couple of cups of tea, and several Treacle Fudge offerings later; they had to leave.  
  
"Alright then we'll see you tomorrow at Care of Magical Creatures Hagrid," Harry said while waving goodbye.  
  
"Yah, Bye Hagrid," said Ron as he followed Harry out the door," Hermione what are you doing?"  
  
"Hagrid's said these are going to be part of tomorrow's lesson so I'm just asking him some questions; you can go on I'll catch up."  
  
"Ok..just watch out for their teeth!" he said giving them a fleeting fearful glance then left.  
  
"Awww can I please pick one up Hagrid?" Hermione said looking at how cute they were.  
  
"Sure jus' scoop 'em up and keep yer hands on their bottoms"  
  
She picked one up and Hargrid was explaining things about it while she made puppy-eyes at it. After Hagrid had explained everything she reluctantly went to put it down but she didn't realize soon enough that Hagrid carelessly left his pink umbrella on the floor and before she knew it she had tripped and the Swallop was flying across the room! It landed on a shelf in the kitchen that had all the pots and pans but as he hit it soon all the pots and pans cam tumbling down bringing the Swallop down with them. Hermione and Hagrid rushed over to it and removed a pot that was over its head, but they noticed that its eyes were glowing red.  
  
"Oh no, We've got to run!" Hagrid said rushing out the door.  
  
"I'm so sorry Hagrid!" she said panicked not knowing what was going to happen.  
  
"It's not your fault I left that blasted umbrella on the floor, now run!"  
  
It was too late though as they looked back and the Swallop was as tall as Hagrid and looked like it was going to blow any second. As they left the door they heard something deflate loudly and soon Hermione was surrounded by a cloud of smoke and couldn't see Hagrid anywhere.  
  
"Hagrid! Hagrid are you there?" she shouted at the top of her lungs as she ran and her voice signified a great deal of alarm. She listened and she heard faintly someone telling her to just run.  
  
It was dark now and she ran as fast as she could but there was no getting out of the smoke. She couldn't even see Hogwarts and as she kept running she remembered back to what Hagrid said about the smoke when a Swallop gets really mad. She didn't want to think about that now though as she tried to find a way out. Suddenly, she saw the smoke in front of her start to whirl around rapidly and she screamed, as suddenly it seemed to take the shape of a hand! She turned around and ran in the other direction but to her horror it started to chase after her. She kept on running with terror starting to flood her then the ground grew softer beneath her and she started bumping and crashing into things. She found herself falling to the ground though as she realized that she had been bumping into a trees and one of their roots tripped her. She saw the hand emerge from behind a tree as she got back up and continued to dash through. She knew that she was in the Forbidden Forest now and that didn't make the situation any better but she figured if she ran far enough the smoke would eventually clear out and the hand would disappear. She felt leaves brush against her as she struggled through and she felt lots of sharp branches scrape her skin as she strained to keep running. The horror she was experiencing was overwhelming and didn't allow her to do anything though as she sprinted through as fast as she could. She kept looking back at the smoky hand that seemed to be relentlessly persistent and was getting discouraged as she was coughing herself into hysterics and getting more tired by the minute. After about five more minutes of endless running she thought she saw that the smoke was getting thinner. She was completely wiped out now but continued on with the hand still on her trail. Suddenly she found herself out of the smoke and as she looked back it was as if she had passed a barrier as the smoky hand was trying to reach out of the smoke but couldn't. She collapsed from exhaustion and felt completely helpless as she had no way to get out of the forest and was thinking back to how she had gotten into this mess. 'Why if I ever lay my eyes on another swallop I'll throw it into the lake! No, more like field-kick it in! Blasted things...cute my arse! 'she thought to herself as she got up and dusted herself off. She was scratched and bruised all over but at least the smoke had completely disappeared now so she headed in the direction that she thought she had come from, but she had no idea how many twists and turns she took. The darkness was pitch black now and she had been walking endlessly for what seemed like an eternity. Every once and a while she'd hear a sound and turn around or see something rush through the bushes. She was getting cold too and she would have given anything if she could just get back to the castle. After walking for about ten minutes more she caught a glimpse of something that looked like some sort of cabin. She was so glad that she found hope of some way out of this mess that she felt like running towards it. Maybe there was a way out of this after all...  
  
As she approached it though she saw a very shady looking cloaked figure leave the cabin, which didn't make her feel comfortable at all. She decided that she'd better check through the window to see whether these people were friendly or not before she went and knocked on their door. It was odd enough that they had a cabin here in the middle of the Forbidden Forest. She approached the side window cautiously and peered in. There was a very faint light coming from a few dimly lit lamps and she saw 4 more cloaked figures standing around someone. The person was on the floor and appeared to be tied up and she realized that she was definitely not supposed to be here, these people were certainly doing something illegal. One cloaked figure turned and spoke to another but the one being spoken to jerked away. The other seemed to have gotten angry at this as he threw back his hood and she saw a man she knew she'd seen before. It was Lucius Malfoy, she was sure of it. He looked just like Draco except more mature with lines of age tracing his face and they seemed to enhance now as he seemed to be very irritated by the person next to him. They were whispering but she wished she could hear what they were saying. Then the next thing she knew the person next to him threw back his hood and she heard herself gasp, as it was Malfoy! 'What on Earth is Malfoy doing here?' she thought to herself, as she stood there stunned at what she saw before her. They were talking quietly but then Draco started to raise his voice and she could faintly make out their conversation.  
  
"No, I just can't, make HIM do it," Draco said pointing to the figure across from him.  
  
"What do you mean you just can't? What an absolutely spineless excuse for a son I have!" Lucius said placing one of his hands on his forehead from frustration, "You listen to me Draco you will KILL this man right now! I have direct orders from the Dark Lord, he's a traitor!"  
  
"But I just...I don't know! I just can't bring myself to do it I don't know what 's wrong with me I just can't."  
  
"Draco I' m not going to tell you again," he said as he inched closer to him," How on Earth are you going to become a Death Eater? I will not tolerate a son of mine being as feeble and pathetic as you're acting right now!"  
  
"I.I don't think I'm cut out to be a Death Eater, I just don't have what it takes."  
  
"What did you just say? Not cut out to be a Death Eater? How absolutely preposterous! I will not hear you utter those words in my presence again do you hear me? How did I end up with a useless and weak son like you?"  
  
"You didn't I just can't KILL people that's all."  
  
"That's ALL? What else is there? When did you develop a conscience? You couldn't possibly have...I...augh Draco do not make me dome something that will make you regret your actions later!"  
  
Draco looked completely disappointed and frustrated in himself now, but Hermione saw fear in his eyes as his father had a threatening look on his face and was coming towards him. Draco seemed to know that face as he was inching back away from Lucius knowing what his father was capable of. Hermione was becoming anxious, as she didn't know what to do. She hated Draco with a vengeance, but did she hate him enough to see him get severely hurt?  
  
  
  
AHHH ok I'm like leaving right this second LoL I didn't want to end it here at all I'm soooooo sorry byee!! And PLZ review! And I didn't get to read over it either o0o nooo don't worry when I get back I'll fix everything and I'm bringing my laptop we'll see. 


	7. Heroics, Screw Ups, and More Swallops

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters or anything affiliated with them.  
  
Author's Note: Hey I'm back from vacation and yay! 50 reviews wow I really didn't think I'd ever get that many LoL ok I edited Ch.6 and decided to keep the chapter name after all even thought it doesn't sound quite right..oh well this chapter has lots of Draco and Hermione time and don't worry there'll be loootsa fluffiness soon enough. I'll get there eventually I'm sooo sorry this chapter was late but here it is.  
  
Slythindor  
  
Ch. 7: Heroics, Screw ups, and More Swallops  
  
Hermione thought hard as she anxiously watched what was going on before her. A minute later Lucius looked over his shoulder before he was going to strike Draco, and she saw a level of rage in his eyes that she'd never seen before. Right at that moment Hermione knew she had to do something. Sure Draco was the bane of her existence, not to mention a cynical jerk, but prat or not, no one deserved a beating like that. She didn't know what she could possibly do though, was she just going to waltz in on a bunch of death eaters? 'Think, Hermione, think...augh what to do in a situation like this sure wasn't in any book,' she thought to herself, 'but I know I can think of something.' Suddenly she had an idea; it was a very simple plan, but it would only work as a very temporary diversion...VERY temporary. She picked up a fairly large rock that was next to her and as she was about to throw it, she saw that it was too late to prevent any damage as Lucius had struck Draco hard in his chest. Lucius was about to strike again but Hermione opened the window and while eluding notice she threw the rock toward the opposite side of the room where no one was standing. She heard glass shatter and she realized she must have thrown it through the window on the other side. Lucius stopped just in time and threw suspicious glances at the others in the room. Draco looked relieved and started inching away as his father went to see what happened.  
  
"What was that?" Lucius said while walking over to the broken window with the others following, "Go out front and search the area." He stood there a couple of minutes more looking around for anything suspicious, then turned around to see Draco with his wand out. Not wasting any time, Draco shouted the first spell that came to mind.  
  
"Petrificus Totalus!" he bellowed and he watched his father go stiff and fall to the ground. He grinned at his success and ran out the door but as soon as he left he felt a sudden sharp pain in his chest and collapsed. The pain was blinding and he knew the others would probably come after him any second now. He was lying there a minute thinking of how this situation couldn't get any worse, but he thought back at his victory against his father. It wasn't usual for him to use that kind of spell, it was very clever yet simple and very useful but at the moment he couldn't recall how that spell had gotten into his head. He heard footsteps coming toward him now and he knew he was going to be in for it.  
  
"Malfoy? Malfoy are you alright?" Hermione said kneeling down next to him and trying to pull him up, "We have to get out of here the others will be back."  
  
"Who's there?" Draco managed to ask through his labored breathing.  
  
"I...we'll play who's who later okay, now come ON" she said as she helped him up and looked around for somewhere to hide.  
  
"They'll find us...just forget it there are...too many of them and...I won't be able to get ...far enough," he said with difficulty.  
  
"No, there must be some way out of this...umm...I'll use a spell! I'm not sure what I could possibly use though...oh, I know! Transpiricus Visibilis!" she said while waving her wand over both their heads. To his surprise they were both transparent now and he wondered who on earth knew how to do a spell like that. Hermione beamed for a second at remembering that spell since now they could easily be eluded in the dark.  
  
"Where...did...you learn a spell...like that?"  
  
"I read it somewhere," she said dragging him behind a large tree and lying him down.  
  
"Who...are you?" he asked again as he couldn't open his eyes from the pain he was feeling on the right side of his chest and the pain sharpened every time he inhaled. Plus they were transparent now and he couldn't make out the figure opposite him. He heard an annoyingly familiar female voice but he didn't know who could possibly be in this area of the Forbidden Forest at this time of night.  
  
"Never mind that now, do you know how to get out of here?"  
  
"Yah, but they have...to apparate out...of...here first which is...going to take a while."  
  
"Do you think they'll come near here?"  
  
"They'll search...the whole area...so...we have to stay still."  
  
"What was that?" she whispered as she peered over the edge of the tree, "They're coming, don't breathe so loudly." She saw a revived Lucius coming toward where they were but as he approached the tree he stopped.  
  
"That boy has to learn to obey me, but he must have gotten too far into the forest," Lucius said chuckling, "It'll be punishment enough for him now, trying to find his way out. He's a clever boy but that spell was only a distraction, merely delaying the inevitable. He probably ran into a werewolf or something by now. Grab the traitor and let's go."  
  
They heard them apparate with a few distinct popping noises and Hermione turned to Draco looking annoyed.  
  
"You didn't untie the poor man they wanted you to kill?" she said exasperatedly. He couldn't help chuckling at that even though it did cause him quite a bit of pain.  
  
"You mean...rescue him? Bad...enough that I didn't...kill him, I'm in for it...as it is and I...don't DO heroics."  
  
"Hmph...I should have figured as much. I hope they don't go do it themselves though. Well, now we have to get ourselves out of here so lead...erm or point the way."  
  
He tried to get up but fell down again, he couldn't understand what could possibly cause this much pain. Hermione sighed and tried to help him up but he pushed her away.  
  
"I can do it...just give me a minute...will you?" he said as he tried again and fell back down clutching his chest. She watched him as he tried over and over in vain to get onto his feet. He didn't look like the Draco Malfoy she knew; he looked frail and helpless, but she knew he was still the malicious jerk he always was. She couldn't just leave him there though and she found it somewhat satisfying to see this side of him. It pleased her to see that he wasn't AS evil as she thought he was but he does come very close. After about ten tries to get up and a significant amount of pain Draco, even though he wouldn't admit it, had given up. He was lying on the floor grasping his chest and groaning.  
  
"Augh...I think I made it...worse," he managed to say before completely blacking out.  
  
"Oh no...Malfoy wake up! Wow I didn't think your father hit you that bad...this situation is getting worse by the minute," she said aloud as she started panicking and thinking to herself 'I have to calm down...no, I can't! I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do, no I can't panic I have to figure this situation out. I'm in the middle of the Forbidden Forest late at night with my worst enemy who is wounded and unconscious yet is the only person who knows the way out of here. What if he dies? What if I die? He's pretty close though what am I going to do? Umm I guess I could see what's wrong with him. Yah, I could do that, after all I do want to be a doctor when I grow up and a magical doctor at that. But wait, then I'd have to open his cloak and shirt to do that; no I can't possibly. I could probably be able to help him though if I knew what was wrong with him. Do I even want to help him? Why should I? I guess if I think like a doctor they really don't judge people. A person in need is a person in need; yes that's it, even thought he would never do the same for me. Heck he'd probably just leave me here. Well I'm not like him, not like him at all and out of the goodness of my heart I'm going to help him even though he doesn't deserve it.'  
  
She frowned at her instability as she kneeled down beside him. She had only read about three medical books, and highly doubted that she would be able to do anything about his injury. 'I could probably figure out what's wrong with him though, that's a start, but if I don't know what to do I'll just leave it alone,' she thought to herself as she unfastened his cloak, 'Oh God if anyone finds out about this I'm transferring to Beauxbatons!' she thought as she nervously undid his school robe and fretfully unbuttoned the shirt he had underneath. Her hands shook a little as she found it rather scandalous to be undressing an unconscious boy...especially Draco Malfoy. She found herself giggling a little as she thought of what the other girls would pay to be doing this. She turned serious again though as these thoughts were rather unprofessional. She took a deep breath as she found herself becoming very uneasy as she lifted the shirt he had underneath his school shirt. 'I can't see a thing,' she thought and took out her wand, "Lumos!"  
  
She gasped as what she saw was worse than she had expected. It was a rather large and severe bruise with an awful amount of discoloration that stood out gravely against his pale skin, but she knew what was wrong as soon as she looked at it. That part of his rib cage was misshapen and it looked like a few of his ribs had buckled in and she realized they must be close to puncturing his lung. 'Ok I know what to do...sort of. I know the spell to heal bones but only a temporary one, I'd have to have Skele-Grow to fully heal them. I've never tried this sort of spell before though, so it'll probably have a weak effect but I'll give it a try...' she thought as she stood up and took out her wand. "Skeletonus Intactium!" she whispered as she waved her wand over the injury. To her delight she watched his ribs gathered together bit-by-bit and his wound got smaller. After they stopped moving though they still weren't completely corrected so she knew that was the best anyone of her experience could do. His injury looked a lot better though and she felt a sense of satisfaction at what she'd done. But she wasn't done yet; she'd have to finish what she began. 'I need to wrap them or they won't heal properly...augh why do I have to know all these things? And what on earth am I going to wrap them with?' she thought then remembered watching on movies how people ripped up clothing to wrap wounds, 'Well I'm not ripping up any of MY clothes that's for sure, but I'll be glad to rip up this death eater cloak...wait a sec though...I can't just rip cloth. I may have brains but I definitely don't have any brawn,' she thought as she carefully took the cloak off of him and examined it, 'If I could just...what the...' Something had fallen out of the cloak onto the floor but she couldn't quite see what it was. She felt around for it and found herself picking up a very old and sharp looking knife. The pattern around the handle was that of a snake wrapping itself around the base and it had rubies as eyes. Hermione gave Malfoy a disapproving look but at least she had found something to rip the cloth with, so she went on and ripped it into strips. "Oh God I feel like Florence Nightingale" she mumbled as she carefully wrapped the cloth around his chest. Her hands started to shake again as she'd never felt so uncomfortable in her life. His skin was rather soft and she was thinking just how he'd react if he woke up while she had her arms around his waist tying the bandage. Then she found the thought rather nauseating but after she was done she felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment.  
  
She watched Malfoy lying there still unconscious and for a split second she thought back to how Ron looked, as he was lying unconscious after the bludger incident. She shook her head because at that second they both looked somewhat the same and she wished Malfoy was like this all the time. Not just because he was completely out cold, but also because he didn't have that menacing expression on his face and she didn't see his cold gray eyes giving her a sharp, piercing look. He was just lying there just utterly...serene and tranquil, so calm and passive. She sighed, as she knew she'd never see that look on him again and did what she had to do..."Hydronus Aquilis!" she said pointing her wand at his face. Water came streaming out and she watched while Draco stirred as he came into consciousness. His eyes flickered before he opened them completely. His icy gray eyes became alert immediately and he sat upright suddenly with alarm. He looked around him and saw that his shirt was open, he was wet, and his cloak was torn to shreds. Then he looked up to see the worst part of all.  
  
"Mudblood?! What have you done to me? How did you get here...no augh," He couldn't continue as he felt a sharp pain in his chest. It didn't measure up to the pain he was feeling before but he was still hurt. "What's wrong with me? What have you done?" he shouted threateningly. She didn't look well herself as her robes were torn and she was scratched in several places. Her hair had several leaves in it...and was that a piece of a branch? He didn't care about her particular injuries though as he eyed her with alarm.  
  
"Shhh! Nothing, you have three broken ribs thanks to your saintly father and all I did was fix them up a bit. One of them was getting too close to your lung and you would have died," she said but as he threw her a look that clearly showed he thought she'd gone insane she continued, "...not that I care anyway. I just needed to get out of here and you said you knew the way so if you don't mind, I'd like to leave this godforsaken place!"  
  
He gave her another look and slowly got to his feet. He had a little difficulty but he wouldn't let her see that, it was bad enough he blacked out in front of her. Malfoys weren't supposed to show any sign of weakness after all, it was even well known that they didn't even have any. He looked past her in the darkness and started buttoning up his shirt. He glanced at his chest and noticed that it was wrapped up and he realized it was the same cloth from his cloak that was lying on the floor in shreds. Draco looked at Hermione standing there with her arms crossed looking impatient and annoyed. No one had ever done anything like that for him, and why would they? Why did she even do it? He could never understand that girl; she always seemed to turn up wherever he went. Even in the middle of the Forbidden Forest, of all places. The pain he felt now was drastically less than before. He felt pain hardly equivalent to a mere headache and he wondered how on earth she could have pulled it off. He thought back to that moment when the glass shattered and remembered the overwhelming sense of relief he felt, then that spell that was on the tip of his tongue just came out. Just then he realized where he got it.  
  
Hermione was eying him with raised eyebrows as he had stopped buttoning his shirt midway and was staring into space. He glanced at her and all of a sudden he felt...gratitude. Then for a split second he thought of possibly thanking her since he would have died after all. He stiffened at the thought of this though, as that was completely absurd. Malfoys were always malicious bastards, and though he despised everything his father was involved with, he still had some pride. He was still a Malfoy and she was still a mudblood, heroic escape or not.  
  
"Were you expecting some sort of thank you? Because I can assure you that you're not going to get one," he said silkily.  
  
"Ha! A thank you from Draco Malfoy? You may think you're smarter but I can guarantee you, I'm not THAT dense!" she said raising her voice, "I'll have you know that I was in full knowledge as soon as I decided to help you that you would have NEVER done the same for me or anyone else. And when your father started beating you? Do you think I threw the rock through the window because we were such dear friends? NO! You would have sat there and watched with pleasure as I was getting the pulp beat out of me. Some people on the earth don't ENJOY seeing people suffer and die Malfoy, and lucky for you I just happen to be one of them. Unfortunately for me though, YOU happen to be the only person who knows how to get back to the castle from here so..." she was interrupted by Draco who had rushed over and covered her mouth with his hand as her voice had gotten too loud and seemed to have stirred something nearby. They were both surprised that he was touching her but Hermione was surprised at how gentle his touch was. She snapped out of it though remembering what she was just saying.  
  
"Get your hands off me!"  
  
"Shut up Granger! Don't you hear that?"  
  
They heard a shuffling sound to their left and after Hermione conceded they moved slowly in the opposite direction behind a tree. They saw green eyes glowing from behind a bush and heard a loud growl then all of a sudden the bush started shaking violently. They watched it in horror in fear of what was causing the movement, as the Forbidden Forest was famous for having extremely rare and dangerous creatures creeping about. Suddenly the bush stopped moving and the eyes disappeared. They breathed a sigh of relief and after a minute, came out from behind the tree. Then out of nowhere and to Hermione's utter terror a Swallop leaped out of the bush. She screamed louder than she thought she was capable of, to Draco's bewilderment, as this looked like a completely harmless creature.  
  
"What's this? You're afraid of this tiny thing? I would have thought you were a little bolder than that Granger," he said smirking and approaching the Swallop.  
  
"Malfoy! I need you to be alive so I can get out of here! Get away from it!" she said reproachfully.  
  
"If you think I'm afraid of this thing then you've completely lost it! Why I'll show you how afraid I am of this puny..." he said with a proud tone of voice and was about to kick it when Hermione grabbed him forcefully and pulled him back.  
  
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" she bellowed, "That thing is how I god forsakenly GOT here ok? I was at Hagrid's and I accidentally threw it across the room then before I knew it, it was the size of a house and I was a surrounded with a smoke cloud. THEN the smoke turned into a hand and started chasing me into the forest and that's how I ended up at your stupid cabin," she explained quickly as she was pulling him away.  
  
"If there was ever a moment I couldn't possibly think you could go any more completely MAD it would be now, so get off me you senseless...augh!! What in bloody hell?!" He bent over suddenly and grabbed his leg. Hermione screamed again as the Swallop had bounced over while they were arguing and had bitten Malfoy. Then to her horror and before she could stop him, Malfoy had lunged at the Swallop and harshly threw it past a few trees beyond where they were standing.  
  
"Malfoy! You DIDN'T! Oh my God RUN!" she shouted as she grabbed his arm and started sprinting. He tried to struggle out of her grip but stopped resisting as he looked back and saw the top of the now gigantic Swallop sticking out from the tip of the trees. Hermione heard that ever-familiar deflating sound and they found themselves completely immersed in smoke. They could hardly see each other now and Hermione was practically hyperventilating, as she knew what was going to happen next.  
  
"Th-The smoke...oh my god...oh my god..." she was saying as she tore through the forest.  
  
"Calm down it's just a bit of smoke," Draco said, but what was déjà vu to Hermione was a very new experience for him as the smoke started whirling around in front of him loudly. Although, it wasn't as loud as Hermione, who was incessantly shrieking at the top of her lungs and running in the opposite direction. She didn't know what to expect this time and she didn't WANT to know, but it was too late. Draco was curious though but as soon as he looked back he wished he hadn't as a Skull had formed from the smoke and appeared to be coming after them. He hadn't realized that Hermione was clutching his arm as they darted through the trees, but he soon found out as he was being thrown to the ground. Apparently, Hermione had tripped on something and had taken him down with her. He managed to get up quickly with his heart pounding as the skull began to appear from afar. He started running again but he heard a voice calling out to him.  
  
"Malfoy! Malfoy, this blasted plant's got me!" she screamed as she was struggling to free herself. He could hardly see her now and the Skull was gaining speed. He saw it emerging from behind the trees a few yards back and he heard Hermione scream frantically. He hesitated for a second but he found himself, as if possessed, turning back. He found her a few seconds later fighting with a web of thin leafy vines that had wrapped around both her legs. He reached in his pocket for his knife but to his shock and horror he couldn't find it.  
  
"M-My knife, bloody hell where's the knife?"  
  
"Forget the blasted knife just tear through them, there's too many!"  
  
His heart was pounding as he kneeled down and started rapidly ripping apart the vines. His hands were getting caught in them and the leaves had tiny sharp thorns that pricked his skin as he fought them. They finally stopped multiplying and after a few more seconds they had shredded all of them. He didn't know what had overcome him as he helped Hermione up, but as she got to her feet she let out a blood-curdling scream. Draco went half deaf but as he looked up he hadn't realized the Skull had gained on them so much that it was looming above their heads now, looking like it was going to attack suddenly at any second. Then before he could start running again, he noticed that Hermione had suddenly stopped screaming and then a second later, as he saw complete terror in her eyes, she completely passed out. He panicked, as he didn't know what to do; his mind was completely baffled by the situation. "I've done enough to shame the entire Malfoy name already," he thought, "That's definitely enough heroics for one day." But Hermione's voice rang in his mind as he remembered her telling him how he would never do what she did for anyone else. He couldn't stand her being right, and he had no idea what this dangerous looking skull was capable of. So he put her arms around his shoulders since he was too weak from his injury to carry her and ran with her as fast as he was able to. But all of a sudden to his complete terror and shock he tripped and fell over a jagged rock, as he couldn't see where he was going from all the smoke. He felt a severe amount of alarm as he looked at the smoky Skull, which was about twice his size. It was still standing in the spot he left it at, but suddenly the wind started blowing wildly and it's mouth started to slowly open. Then quick as a whip it lunged at them and the last thing Draco remembered was the Skull's mouth covering them both.  
  
  
  
Hehehehe I know I know that's the most evil cliffhanger ever but damn this chapter took SOOOO long cuz I didn't plan to have it here LoL and the next chapter wasn't planned either o0o well we'll see wut happens hehe o0o btw PLEASE REVIEW and also read SweetWaters's story called The Mistake They Can't Deny it's another reeeeeally goooodd original Draco/ Hermione fic go read it noww haha but review first cuz I luv reading them LoL so far anyway haha cyaa I'll hopefully get the next chapter up soon k byee 


	8. Confusion, Contraptions, Clumsiness, and...

Disclaimer: Ok well I don't know if you know this, but me and J.K.R. are in some negotiations now and she won't part with Harry, Ron, or Hermione but I've got my checkbook right here and I'm sure I can make her an offer she can't refuse for Draco LoL but for now she owns it all grrrr...  
  
Author's Note: Ok well ch.8 is heeere LoL ok this chapter is sorta humor and romance sorta...I dunno this story was like a mix of everything we've got drama, comedy, romance, and horror too wow that's pretty crazy and this chapter adds adventure...sorta o0o well just go along with it hahaha  
  
Slythindor  
  
Chapter 8: Confusion, Contraptions, Clumsiness, and Confessions  
  
Back at the Slythindor common room Harry and Ron were frantic. As far as they knew Hermione was going to spend a few more minutes with Hagrid before following them into the castle. She never showed up though and it was getting late. They had gone back to Hagrid's hut but to their surprise he wasn't there and there was a huge mess in his kitchen. After a visit to McGonagoll explaining the situation they returned to their common room feeling worried and upset.  
  
"You know what, Harry?" asked Ron as Harry responded with a questioning look, "I bet it has something to do with those stupid Swallops!"  
  
"Oh get off it Ron they're just stupid little...wait a sec, they weren't there when we went back to Hagrid's were they? And remember what Hagrid said about upsetting them? Oh no...the mess in the kitchen! You know what Ron I think you might be on to something...but just to be sure we'd better go to the library and see what we can find out."  
  
The library wasn't too far from the Slythindor common room and neither was anything else since as they recently found out, it was conveniently situated right in the middle of the castle. When they got to the library they told Madame Pince what they were looking for since they didn't have Hermione with them and she found for them a book all about Swallops. It was a pretty thin book and had a picture of a rather large looking swallop on the cover, which made Ron a little uneasy. They thanked her and she told them that if they needed any more information they could find it in the Care of Magical Creatures Area. They doubted they would need anything else so they went back to their common room.  
  
"Augh, I HATE this stupid picture!" Ron exclaimed looking darkly on the fat lady in the pink dress who happened to be sitting down.  
  
"Yah, who are we going to compliment this time?" Harry asked looking curiously at the painting, "Hey where's the snake?" The chair that the lady started to shake and she tried her best to stay put but she seemed to have failed as she was sprung off her chair. The snake was sitting on it now and looked rather squashed.  
  
"Couldn't leave well enough alone could you? I had him pinned for a whole hour!" said the fat lady looking very aggravated.  
  
"Erm...sorry. Ron did you think of anything?"  
  
"Yah I've been saving this one for a time when Hermione isn't with us," he said looking around to see if anyone was around them then continuing, "Pansy Parkinson is very uhh...nice-looking." The door to the common room swung open.  
  
"Ron! I cannot believe you just said that!" Harry said looking very surprised..  
  
"Well...she is!" Ron said as his face turned a tinge red.  
  
"Yah I guess so...anyway let's see what this book says" Harry said as he and Ron sat on the couch opposite the fireplace. Most of the book was about their habitats, appearance, and how to take care of them but there was one chapter that caught their attention.  
  
"The Horrific Hoax...," Ron read aloud, "Hmm it says here that if you get a Swallop really angry it will fully inhale and grow really huge. Then it says it will immerse you and the entire area around you with thick smoke and uh oh..the smoke will take a certain horrific form and appear to chase you. Each swallop is different but common shapes include a skull, a dagger, a hand, and several ghastly faces. There are certain limits to where the smoke will reach, and if your lucky enough to reach these barriers, the form will not be able to reach you any longer. But then it says if the smoky shape nears you it will appear to attack you then cause you to lose consciousness (if it hasn't already). And then as it has stricken you with terror it will disappear and the smoke will dissipate completely. These are fairly common creatures and use these methods as a form of revenge. But in actuality it's completely harmless as it is a very complex illusion."  
  
"I don't know Ron, should we worry?"  
  
"Yah, she IS missing but I don't think she's in any direct danger, Hagrid's probably with her and McGonagoll has people out looking for her."  
  
As they sat thinking about the situation they overheard a couple of Slytherin girls behind them talking.  
  
"Hey where's Draco?" asked Millicent who hadn't seen him all night and was getting very distressed over it.  
  
"I don't know...he's been missing for a while now," said Pansy as she frowned, "Oh well you know my Draco, always breaking the rules," she said staring dreamily into space.  
  
"Excuse me? YOUR Draco? Since when has he given you the time of day? He's definitely more mine than YOURS!"  
  
"He is not! What would he be doing with a frizzy haired goon like you?"  
  
"Augh! The question is what would he be doing with an air-headed bimbo like YOU!"  
  
Harry and Ron rolled their eyes and walked away seeing as they couldn't understand what interested them so much in Draco Malfoy. Plus this fight was going to be getting violent in a minute. They found it odd though that Draco was missing also, but didn't think much of it since he was probably just wreaking havoc somewhere. Millicent and Pansy were rolling on the floor now trying to pull each other's hair out and Ron and Harry had decided to worry themselves to sleep so they just stepped over the girls and went up to their dormitory still wondering why a girl would even want to TOUCH Draco Malfoy.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Hermione stirred in her sleep as she clutched her pillow. 'Mmm...this pillow is so soft and gentle, but what's with this bed? It's so hard and bumpy,' she thought as she slept carelessly. She opened her eyes a bit and saw the sunlight cascading through the trees and watched as a bird floated through the air. "Wait a second...TREES?!!" She shrieked and opened her eyes completely. 'That was no pillow...it was Draco Malfoy!' She screamed and got up...then she screamed some more. 'That whole time I thought I was holding a pillow..AUGH!' she thought as she kept screaming. Draco stirred then bolted upright. He was wearing that same confused and alarmed face he had on yesterday when she revived him.  
  
"What happened?! And God could you stop bloody screaming for a minute I've gone completely deaf in my right ear already, please be so kind as to spare me the left one will you?!"  
  
"What are we still doing here? I thought...I thought you were...," Hermione couldn't continue what she was saying but she did continue screaming. Draco got up irritably and Hermione turned around and walked over to a rock that was opposite them. She stopped screaming and as calmly as she could she sat down.  
  
"We have to think this out," she said as she took deep breaths, "Okay I remember up until...until I was caught in the vines...and...and you helped me." She looked up at him with an appreciative glance, but he evaded her eyes. "Do you remember what happened after that?"  
  
"No, I...I can't remember a thing; just forget it. We're here now so let's just concentrate on getting out," Draco said abruptly still avoiding eye contact.  
  
"But wait, how did we get away from the skull? I remember now, we had ripped up the vines then the skull had caught up with us and it was right above me...hey look!" she said as she bolted off the rock and ran several yards behind them. Draco trailed behind curiously.  
  
"See look! Here are the vines I got out of yesterday, see they're all shredded! But how did we get all the way over there? Malfoy, there's something you're not telling me!"  
  
"You passed out and the Skull ate us okay? Are you happy now?"  
  
"The Skull did WHAT?!"  
  
"Forget it, we were in the same place where it attacked us when we woke up so it doesn't matter."  
  
"So it didn't really do anything! Oh God it must have been some sort of hoax...but wait if you knew where we were before it attacked us then you DO know how we got all the way over there!"  
  
"Just shut up Granger you're starting to irritate me. I think I might know the way from here so I'm leaving," he drawled as he walked past her. Draco was getting more irritated with HIMSELF. What did he do all that for anyway? He remembered that her words were sounding in his head as he turned back the day before. It had struck him hard when she had said that she was the one that shattered the glass. She saved his life in more ways than one. She broke the glass, indirectly put the body-binding spell in his head, used the transparency spell, led him to safety, and then fixed his ribs before he died. Talk about a full-scale rescue, not bad for a mudblood. He heard her running after him and after she had caught up with him she started walking at a normal pace a few steps behind him.  
  
"Umm...Malfoy? I think I owe you an apology," Hermione said as she caught up and walked next to him. He turned to her with a smirk on his face.  
  
"Oh really? I don't need any apologies Granger; what did you do? Make a mini replica of me and sleep with it at night? I'm sure your guilt's been eating away at you but just save it."  
  
"If your referring to Pansy's 'Draco Doll' I can assure you I've never touched it and she doesn't sleep with it EVERY night just when she feels lonely...," she said grinning as Draco's eyes had widened and he had on a disgusted look, "Anyway...I was referring to that fight we had with the whole 'worthless excuse for a witch' deal. I said something to you about being a death eater then you rather harshly denied it. I have to admit I didn't believe you and after what I saw at the cabin I felt really guilty about calling you that...and I'm sorry,"  
  
Draco stopped and looked at her. Her eyes sparkled with sincerity and it moved him in a way beyond words. Then he stiffened as his stubborn pride returned to him.  
  
For a second Hermione could have sworn she saw his gaze become warm but a few seconds later she saw it become icy again. She knew he was going to spit back some nasty comment at her so before he could open his mouth she decided to finish what she had to say.  
  
"I just felt awful for misjudging you and you seem to have a lot to deal with, with your father and all, and all this stupid arguing with me isn't making it any better. So, let's make a truce until we get out of here okay?"  
  
He studied her a minute and decided that it wasn't such as a bad idea. He might as well make the best out of being stuck with a mudblood.  
  
"Fine," he muttered.  
  
They walked and walked for what seemed like hours in silence. Hermione swore if she had a knut for every tree they passed she'd be a millionaire.  
  
"Malfoy, are you sure you know where you're going?"  
  
"Of course I'm sure, what did you think we walked all that way for nothing?"  
  
Suddenly Hermione screamed and pointed.  
  
"Draco Malfoy! You know the way huh? These shredded vines look AWFULLY familiar! We've walked in a complete circle! Lovely little stroll you took us on around the ENTIRE perimeter of the forest!" Hermione shouted from exasperation. She went over to the rock she sat on that morning and rested her head in her hands. Draco had just dropped and sat on the ground from frustration and was in the middle of aimlessly throwing rocks when he heard a splatting sound and then some sort of moisture on his head. Hermione had been watching him and was now absolutely doubled over with laughter. He gave her a questioning look as he touched his head.  
  
"You...you...hahahahaha...the bird pooped on your head!" she said while rather uncontrollably pointing and laughing.  
  
"What?! Augh my hair! That's repulsive!" Draco shouted as he was freaking out. Hermione was absolutely hysterical as she watched as he was trying to find something to wipe it off on. He refused to wipe it off on any of his clothes so he was absolutely frantic. So, seeing as how he was so sensitive about his hair Hermione decided to mess with him...  
  
"You know I heard bird waste damages your roots Malfoy, better get it off before your hair starts falling out..!"  
  
"FALLING OUT?! That's preposterous...that couldn't possibly happen. Oh my god is that a hair in my hand?!"  
  
Hermione was laughing her head off as Draco's eyes bulged and he took his school robe off and instantly wiped it off.  
  
"Your hair is completely chaotic Malfoy!," she shouted still practically falling off the rock from laughter, "Look it all hanging down the side of your face, why I've never seen you without it slicked back."  
  
"Oh and I suppose yours is in impeccable shape? You with that branch on your head!" he said finding himself grinning at the sight of her hair.  
  
"What?" she asked looking puzzled, but as she felt around her hair she pulled out a twig. Then she started taking out a couple of leaves as Draco was just staring in confusion. She was still laughing uproariously at him but then at herself now, as she seemed to be pulling out the contents of a tree from her head.  
  
"Why I've got a tree in my hair! Or quite a few look I've got maple leaves, oak leaves, and look here's a birch leaf!" she said between laughs while Draco's expressions turned from confusion to one of amusement.  
  
"Get a hold of yourself Granger for God's sake," Malfoy said still staring at her but as soon she fell right off the rock couldn't take it anymore and found himself actually laughing. Hermione looked up at him, watching this rare turn of events and stopped what she was doing. She just stared at him until he stopped, which was after a record of 15 seconds. He turned serious again though as he realized that all the pride he had was soiled just like his hair. He cleared his throat, got up and started walking again. Hermione went after him.  
  
"Malfoy, I have to say I've never seen you genuinely laugh before."  
  
Draco scowled at her and mumbled, "First and last time, mudblood."  
  
Her face fell, "You know you're a real prat Malfoy," she said crossing her arms and frowning at him. They walked in silence for a while trying to take different paths than last time. Hermione had been carrying a weight the whole time since she had woken up and she decided to lift it before it was too late.  
  
She caught up with him and broke the silence and with a soft voice said, "I don't know why you did it Malfoy, but thank you for turning back and helping me get out of the vines."  
  
His body visibly stiffened and he stopped in his tracks then turned his head, "Forget about it Granger," he said rather abruptly and started walking again but she grabbed his arm.  
  
"You better not be doing this so that I owe you something Malfoy, I saved your life too you know."  
  
"I know," he said looking plagued as if disgusted at himself.  
  
"Well, you don't have to be so revolted by it Malfoy, I know your not exactly used to doing 'good deeds' but they're not so horrible."  
  
"What're you going to give me a crash course on ethics Granger? 'Morals 101'?  
  
"No, but you could sure use it. But at least now I got a compliment for the common room door!"  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"Draco Malfoy actually has some morals!"  
  
"WHAT?! Don't you dare say that, and especially with people around you, you'll ruin me!"  
  
"Nobody pays any attention to that anymore anyway people just want to get through the blasted door, Slythindor is a complete wreck you know."  
  
"It was all that senile old coot's idea, it'll never work."  
  
"You shouldn't say things like that about Dumbledore, he IS trying to make the best of things. You're right though, I don't think Gryffindor and Slytherin will ever get along."  
  
"Of course they won't."  
  
"Well, at least we agree on something," Hermione said grinning.  
  
"Well isn't that just FANTASTIC! Let's celebrate!" Draco said smirking.  
  
She gave him an irritated look, "Hey, do you think people are worrying about us?"  
  
"Probably, you're weasel boyfriend and scar face have most likely hung themselves by now without their precioussss," Draco hissed alluding to the Lord of the Rings.  
  
"He's not my boyfriend! Nor a weasel at that! And since when do you read J.R.R. Tolkien's novels?"  
  
He shrugged, "Other people read good literature Granger, what you think I sat and read books on the Dark Arts all day? That series happens to be my favorite."  
  
"Really? That's so weird it's mine too!" Hemione admitted, "I liked the Two Towers the best, what about you?" They walked along for a while more talking about it surprisingly without killing each other. That is until Draco said something about Sam having homosexual tendencies.  
  
"Sam follows Frodo as if he was some sort of God, I would have ditched him from the beginning."  
  
Suddenly Hermione started giggling.  
  
"What is it NOW?"  
  
"It doesn't sound familiar at all to you?"  
  
"Absolutely not, what are you talking about?"  
  
"Well I was just thinking how frantic Crabbe and Goyle must be without their 'love stud.'"  
  
"What?! Have you gone mad?!"  
  
"No, don't you think they spend a little TOO much time near you? You're the God of their idolatry for Pete's sake! And Pansy oh God, she's probably squeezed the stuffing out of her doll by now!" Hermione managed to say before continuing to giggle uncontrollably.  
  
"Do you miss her?" Hermione asked after a while when she had finally stopped laughing.  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Pansy of course."  
  
He looked at her as if she was giving Voldemort a bear hug, "Have you gone DAFT?! That girl's got a 'For Rent' sign in her head where her brain's supposed to be!"  
  
Hermione laughed, "Oh wow I thought you guys were you know an item, seeing as how she worships you and all...guess she's just disturbingly obsessed. No wonder why she's got all that stuff in that drawer she's devoted to you. She's got hair samples from one of your hairbrushes she stole, TONS of pictures, a toothbrush that supposedly belongs to you, and several other items of yours she kleptomaniacally took or bought from people. Oh yah and there's a spot on her hand that she never washes 'cause you kissed it one time at the Yule Ball when you had to in one of the dances. I'd get a restraining order if I were you."  
  
Draco looked absolutely horror-struck.  
  
"It's odd though, I'd have thought Pansy was your type."  
  
"No way, she's a maniac and she just graduated to psycho now after what you've told me."  
  
"But don't you like girls that are fawning over you like that? You seemed very well entertained with Millicent in Potions."  
  
"And when exactly did you ever catch me voluntarily within 10 feet of her? It's always fun of course, but she's definitely not the kind of girl I'd want to be around."  
  
"And what on earth kind of girl would that be?"  
  
"Well, for starters she can't be horribly ugly, plus even though nobody has a high level intellect as myself she has to come fairly close," he said smirking as he thought about the rest slowly, "And it has to be someone I can trust, too. But most importantly she can't expect me to become a death eater," he finished but he was staring into space by this time. He had looked deep in though at the last thing and he said it very slowly and with difficulty. He shook his head and snapped out of it as he saw Hermione giving him a surprised glance.  
  
"Well Malfoy, all I can say is you just ruled out every girl in Slytherin," Hermione said with a laugh, "Hey, what's that?" she said as she noticed something sticking out from beneath a pile of leaves on the ground in front of them. She leaned down and picked up a very odd looking object. It resembled a magnifying glass except the handle was made of purple crystal and was rimmed with emeralds around the base. The glass was thick and cut intricately so that when you looked into it you saw a hundred of what you were looking at.  
  
"Looks valuble...better let me hold it," Draco said reaching for it, but Hermione jerked it away.  
  
"You wish, I think I'll keep this and maybe figure out what it is. You'd just take it to the local pawnshop," she said as she put it in a pocket of her cloak. Draco watched her as she did this and suddenly stopped.  
  
"My knife! It's missing, I just remembered I was looking for it last night when you were tangled in the plant and I didn't have it. But wait it was in the gray cloak...oh no Granger what did you do with the knife?!"  
  
"The one with the snake on it? I tore the cloak with it I didn't have anything else.." she said before he interrupted her.  
  
"But what did you do with it after that?" he asked sharply.  
  
"I...I don't remember. I had other things on my mind you know!"  
  
"Like what?!"  
  
"Like saving your life! I wasn't too concerned with a stupid knife!"  
  
"That is NOT a stupid knife it's a goddamn family heirloom father is going to kill me!" "I'm sure you can find another one like it..."  
  
"NO it's one of a kind! Augh great and I thought this hellhole couldn't get any worse! I'm stuck with a mudblood in the middle of the Forbidden Forest and now I haven't got the knife," he said with his face in his hands from frustration.  
  
"Well, if you think about it, you got yourself into this mess! I didn't CHOOSE to come here! You came her voluntarily god knows why!"  
  
"Do you think I had a choice? If Lucius Malfoy tells you to meet him somewhere you GO! Do you know what it's like having him as your father? Being forced into a life you never chose to have, being judged by who your father is and who people think YOU are because of it, and living up to it...you have no idea," Draco said with an almost somber voice while staring into space again.  
  
"Living up to it? Malfoy is that why you're always so...unpleasant?" she asked bluntly as it dawned on her an explanation why he was always so nasty and malicious.  
  
"I don't know...it's been like this since as long as I can remember," he said then finding himself in a daze again he shook his head. He looked at her and her eyes sparkled as she gave him an understanding look that made him feel comforted in a way he'd never thought possible. Her eyes were warm and reassuring, but he couldn't take it for much longer. He was infuriated with himself for telling her all this and he felt a sudden feeling of disgrace. He looked away from her angrily, "It's nothing a stupid little mudblood would understand anyway...," he muttered as he started walking again.  
  
"Malfoy we had a truce! Augh it's useless with you anyway. And where do you think you're going? I'M leading this time!" she said, almost shouting from frustration. They walked on for a little while longer still not knowing where they were. Suddenly Hermione tripped on something but managed to maintain balance and didn't fall. But Draco wouldn't let her get away with that, of course.  
  
"Can't you walk Granger? That's not the first time I've seen you fall, I do recall that's what got you into that mess yesterday," he said mockingly in his usual drawling voice. Hermione turned around to retort but as soon as she did Draco tripped on a rather large tree root, knocking her over and landing right on top of her.  
  
"You were saying Malfoy?" she said grinning. Draco struggled to get up but realized that his foot was caught beneath the root. Hermione was struggling to get out from under him and was trying to push him off.  
  
"Stop, that's not helping," he said but then he noticed that her arms and hands were all scratched and bruised, "What happened to your hands...they're hurt," he said as he held them still. He found himself running his hands gently over her cuts, which were many along her arm. He looked into her eyes again and she looked into his with an anxious look. He'd never realized how pretty she was before.  
  
"You know what Malfoy? I like your hair better like that...all hanging down the side of your face. And another thing..," she said, "You're cutting off my air supply!"  
  
"Oh...right, sorry," he said as she started to struggle again and managed to get out of his shoe and free his foot. Just then though, they heard a voice.  
  
"Hermione? What in bloody hell's goin' on here?"  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
I am an evil minion of satan and I have been built to create havoc with torturous cliffhangerss hahahaha ok well this chapter definitely didn't take me as long as ch.7 and I really don't have much else to say but PLEASE PLEASE PPLLEEEEASEE REVIEW!!!  
  
Who's caught them in a very compromising position? What will happen once they get back to Hogwarts? What's everyone going to be up to on the Hogmeade trip?  
  
That's all in the next chapter and btw EVERYONE MUST READ The Mistake They Can't Deny and I'm With You they're both by SweetWater TRUST me they're REALLY good and also read Draco Malfoy the Amazing Bouncing...Rat by Sharon Armstrong it's hilarious kk I'm just givin u my personal recommendations LoL cyaa 


	9. Forest Flusters and Hogsmeade Hijinks

Disclaimer: I don't understand it, no matter what I offer J.K.R just won't give me Draco it's not fair I tell you! NOT FAIR! I mean she owns Harry, Ron and Hermione too, I mean isn't that enough? LoL she owns it all grrrr...  
  
Author's Note: Hmmm...ok I REALLY hope this fic is making sense LOL I knoowww it's taking a while to get to the fluff but that whole Slythindor subplot kinda set everything back a bit since the first two chapters were mainly on that. Do you guys like it better like this? Like really kinda realistic and slowww? Cuz I was trying not to go for oh I've always liked Hermione or she got this huge makeover you know what I'm saying? Try to review and tell me your opinions kk? Thx!!  
  
Slythindor  
  
Ch. 9: Forest Flusters and Hogsmeade Hijinks  
  
They both looked up and found Hagrid towering over them with a threatening expression on his face toward Draco. Before he knew it Draco was being lifted right off Hermione.  
  
"What's this dirty git done to yeh Hermione, are you alright?"  
  
Hermione blushed as she got up quickly, "Yah I'm fine Hagrid, Malfoy just tripped on that tree root there and fell over me. See his shoe's still caught under it," she said as she dusted herself off and tried her best to convince Hagrid of the truth, as it was a very embarrassing situation.  
  
"Where are you holding me from back there? Unhand me you monstrous oaf!"  
  
Hagrid dropped him face first onto the floor. Draco groaned and Hermione, to Hagrid's surprise, rushed over.  
  
"Hagrid! His ribs are broken!" she said with a trace of worry in her voice.  
  
"What? How? An' what's he doin' here anyway?"  
  
Hermione thought quickly for an explanation, but not being able to think of one, she changed the subject.  
  
"Wait, what happened with you after the smoke Hagrid? I couldn't see you and I ran and ended up here," she explained and it was generally true.  
  
"Well I'm jus' sorry Hermione, nobody told me until recently, but it wasn't even real jus' some illusion!"  
  
"Yah, we found out the hard way, but wait do you know the way out of here?"  
  
"Of course I do, and I'd been worried sick an' so has everyone else. People have been out lookin' for yeh since last night. Now come on."  
  
Draco scowled at him as he got up and pulled his shoe from under the root. They started walking for about a half an hour in an unusually straight path. Eventually they caught a glimpse of the castle and they all heaved a sigh of relief. As they entered it, everyone was having lunch in the Great Hall and they hadn't realized until then how incredibly hungry they were. Hermione thanked Hagrid with Draco giving him a disdainful look and they left to go to their common room.  
  
"You know Malfoy, getting stuck with you hadn't been as awful as I'd thought it would be," she said grinning.  
  
"Wish I could the same for you Granger," he muttered and she gave him a scornful look but not seeming surprised.  
  
Suddenly as they reached the end of the tunneled hall leading to their common room they met Dumbledore and Madame Pompfrey.  
  
"Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy we're glad to have you back safely. I understand your circumstances in being in the Forest Ms. Granger, but I believe Mr. Malfoy has a bit of explaining to do," Dumbledore said in a very pleasant voice but he was cut off by Madam Pompfrey.  
  
"I'll have to take Mr. Malfoy though Headmaster; Hagrid tells me he's been injured," she said as she grabbed him. He looked horrified as she started to drag him away.  
  
"Yes, yes that's fine Poppy but Mr. Malfoy and I will have a little talk later," he said smiling at them as they left through a nearby doorway, "I'm sure you have things to do Ms. Granger so I'll leave you now."  
  
She hesitating thinking about what she was about to do but she couldn't hold it in, "Headmaster wait! Malfoy didn't do anything wrong, I found him walking along near Hagrid's hut after the smoke started up and he got caught in it too. We both just got lost in the forest from the hand chasing us."  
  
"And his broken ribs?"  
  
"Well...when we were running we couldn't really see where we were going and we went tumbling down the end of this hill and I managed to get away with some cuts and bruises but Draco got hurt," she said with her heart racing. She had never lied to a faculty member before and especially the Headmaster.  
  
"Ah...Alright then, thank you for clearing that up Ms. Granger, I did find it odd that he was missing also. I'll have to speak to him later about it. I'm afraid I have an appointment with someone now so I'll leave you to hurry back before lunch ends."  
  
Hermione returned to her dormitory with guilt weighing down her conscience but she knew that she did the right thing. She took a quick shower and then headed to the Great Hall. But then as soon as she touched the handle to open the door she remembered something. Dumbledore had said he was going to talk to Malfoy later, which means he'll probably ask him about what happened! She had to tell Malfoy everything before Dumbledore got to him. She looked at the Great Hall door not wanting anything more than to go in and sit and eat with her friends but she turned around and headed for the hospital wing. She went in when she got there, trying not to get caught by Madame Pomprey, but she was never good at things like that.  
  
"Miss Granger I'm so glad you came," Madam Pompfrey said beaming as she popped out from behind a corner, "I wanted to compliment you on the nice job you did with Mr. Malfoy. His ribs are healing safely now thanks to your excellent job! If you want to see him he's in the room around the corner."  
  
Hermione smiled nervously and made her way to the room. She knocked on the door and heard a muffled "what now" from inside. She opened the door and saw a very miserable Draco sitting up in the bed.  
  
"Haven't I gotten enough of you already? I know you can't resist me but you're making it incredibly obvious," he said smirking.  
  
She glared at him, "Just shut up I don't have time for this, I told Dumbledore a little story about what happened to you yesterday and when he comes you better be repeating it," she said in her usual bossy tone. She told him what she said to Dumbledore quickly while he listened with a questioning look on his face.  
  
"He'll probably stop by in a little while," she said as she got up and glanced at her watch, "Great I'll only have time to literally grab a sandwich and run to class, and it's Potions too!" She rushed to leave but as she was almost out the door Draco voiced a question that he had while she was explaining all this.  
  
"Why'd you do it Granger?"  
  
She froze as she was in the doorway and without turning around she answered him, "I didn't feel that you should be punished for what your father did," she said softly then left, with him giving her an appreciative glance that she would never see.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Oooh what about this one 'Mione?" Ginny gushed at a beautiful Victorian dress at Madame Malkan's on Saturday.  
  
Hermione took a feathered fan off the shelf and in her most Victorian voice said, "Why I think it'll be very becoming on you my dear."  
  
They both giggled and marveled at the dress that Ginny had chosen. It was a satin light green dress with frills detailing the arms, waist, along the neckline, and the bottom. It was tight at the top and the sleeves were a little puffed, but the bottom was huge and inflated like all the rest of the dresses of that era. The store was extremely crowded as all the themed dresses and accessories were there.  
  
"Now help me find one before all the nice ones are gone!" Hermione said as she shuffled through all the dresses. She turned around to go to the next aisle but then gasped as she saw the most gorgeous dress she had ever seen on one of the mannequins.  
  
"Oh Ginny look!" she exclaimed as she looked at it in awe. It was a silk gown of a beige color and it had red roses rimming the bottom and the neckline. It was off the shoulders in the way that the sleeves were pushed down and there were frills all along the top, and there were rose designs all over the enlarged bottom and the top corset.  
  
"Hermione it's gorgeous! But oh my god, isn't a little pricey..." Ginny said looking at the price tag.  
  
"200 Galleons! That's crazy!" she exclaimed disappointedly.  
  
"Crazy for a poor mudblood," Pansy hissed as she came from behind them, "I'll buy it; this would look absolutely gorgeous on me, wouldn't it Blaise?"  
  
"Absolutely," she said venomously as she looked at a heartbroken Hermione.  
  
"OH MY GOD! Is that Draco Malfoy standing over there?" Ginny shouted and she and Hermione started cracking up when Pansy and Blaise went into an absolute frenzy looking around and fixing their hair and crying "where? where? where?"  
  
"Ha ha nice one Ginny, come on let's find me another dress."  
  
They looked around for a while more but it had gotten too late. All the really nice dresses were gone and Hermione was stuck with a very plain velvety maroon dress.  
  
"Awww come on 'Mione it's pretty and look we can accessorize," Ginny said grabbing a maroon head band with a matching colored feather sticking out, "See this is pretty and oh this choker is adorable." She stopped talking though as she saw Draco Malfoy coming up to them.  
  
"What do you want Malfoy?" Ginny spat at him.  
  
Hermione noticed that he seemed to be annoyed that Ginny was there, but was surprised when he spat out an excuse for approaching them, "Just checking what everyone's wearing so as to stay as far as possible from deprived Weasleys," he retorted glancing at Ginny, "and not to mention mudbloods," he said smirking at Hermione.  
  
"FINE! Show him what you're wearing Ginny and here's what I'm wearing," she said menacingly while holding out her dress, "So stay the hell away from me!"  
  
"Oh and by the way Crabbe and Goyle were asking about you over by there," Ginny said pointing to the corner where they left Pansy and Blaise. They watched him go over and as they heard the screeching and after taking a quick glance over at Draco's horror-stricken face they headed toward the mask store.  
  
"Hey Harry!" Ginny greeted him slightly blushing as they entered Moderna's Masks.  
  
"Hey, do you like my mask?" he said holding up a bloody faced one.  
  
"Uhh...Harry I think we're supposed to pick from the section labeled 'Masquerade Masks' not 'Horror'"  
  
"Awww," said Ron from behind him, " 'Cause I was having quite a bit of fun with this one," and as he turned around Hermione screamed, as it was a mask of Viktor Krum.  
  
"Why you wicked...gimme that!" she said grabbing it from his hands and throwing it. Only Ginny knew what had happened with Viktor Krum. The summer of fourth year she saw a picture of him at an Honorary Quidditch ceremony in the newspaper hand in hand with his blonde and robust date. She hadn't gotten very upset though since they weren't in any sort of relationship or anything but she was still mad. They walked over to the Masquerade section and it didn't take them long to pick out masks. They were the kind that wrapped around your eyes and nose but left the mouth bare. Harry got an eagle one, Ron got a lion, and Ginny and Hermione got feathery ones matching their dresses. They were glittered with pretty designs on them and they were simply gorgeous.  
  
"I don't know about you guys, but everyone else has been going bonkers trying to find out what everyone is wearing. We'd better do that ourselves before I end up dancing with Millicent Bullstrode and Hermione with Goyle!"  
  
Hermione gave him a disgusted look, "Nah, he'll be too busy dancing with Malfoy," she said and they all laughed. "That's against the rules though Ron, you know that!"  
  
"Oh stop being such a spoilsport. Come on, I saw the Slytherins filing into that creepy pub around the corner."  
  
They made their way to the dungeon-like pub and sat down. They ordered some butterbeer (which turned out tasting more like beer than butter) and started looking around. The Slytherins were showing off their dresses and suits to their friends and soon they knew what practically everyone was wearing...except Draco.  
  
They had even seen Pansy showing off her gorgeous new dress with Hermione looking on contemptuously. Soon she became very uneasy as people started to notice their presence and there were many spells being cast already around the pub by mischievous Slytherins.  
  
"Uhh...guys I think we should leave now, people are starting to notice us," Hermione said nervously. She had a tendency to fiddle with her watch when she was uneasy and before she knew it, she accidentally unfastened it. It had fallen under the table and she crawled down to get it.  
  
"You're just imagining things and besides we don't know what Malfoy's wearing! He'll probably show up in a few minutes," Ron said trying to put her at ease but not noticing that she was under the table, "Do you want to take the risk of..." Ron stopped talking all of a sudden and froze. The same thing seemed to have happened to everyone in the pub...except Hermione. She was still fidgeting under the table. As soon as she had her watch though she came back up and to her alarm everything was completely still as if it was a picture. Things were stuck up in mid-air as they were being thrown and the drinks were frozen as they were being poured. She looked at her friends with alarm and waved her hand over their eyes and poked them to see if they were still conscious. They didn't move a muscle though and she became panicked. 'No wait, whoever did this has to be in here, AND they have to be the only person moving,' she thought as she walked around trying to catch someone stirring. Everyone was as motionless as a statue though with various crazy expressions on their faces and in the middle of several outrageous motions. 'Hmmm I wonder...' She had an idea. She walked around and smacked or pushed everyone in the pub to see if they were frozen or not. She was of course, enjoying it immensely.  
  
"Take that Pansy! I'd have looked 10 times better in that dress! If it wasn't so pretty I'd rip it into a million pieces you mindless obsessive psycho, I'll get you back for that just don't be surprised if your precious Draco Doll is missing it's head! I'm sure you think your precious little Draco is going to absolutely fawn over you at the ball but he'd more likely fawn over me than YOU!" she said aloud but as she did she heard a quiet shuffling in the darkest corner of the pub. She snapped her head in that direction a little embarrassed at her little rant but she slowly made her way over there. The pub was dimly lit to begin with so when she got to the corner she could hardly see a thing.  
  
"Lumos!" she said but as soon as she did she screamed and stepped back. Malfoy had appeared suddenly standing directly in front of her, "Oh God Malfoy, you almost gave me a heart attack!"  
  
"Fawning over you huh?" he said ignoring her and smirking widely.  
  
"I was being SARCASTIC!"  
  
"Mm hmm."  
  
"I WAS!" she said shouting now, "And what did you do all this for anyway?"  
  
"I was bored," he said plainly shrugging his shoulders, "And how are you moving? Do mudbloods have some sort of immunity or something?"  
  
"NO I was under the table you prat! Now undo the spell I'm getting rather sick of this!"  
  
He scoffed, "You seemed to be enjoying yourself quite a bit a minute ago, I didn't know you could be so abusive Granger," he said smirking her in that way that annoyed her immensely, "Pansy's going to wake up completely sore, not to mention deaf. She must have really ticked you off. Something about a dress it seems?"  
  
"It's nothing that concerns you Malfoy, now undo the spell already!"  
  
He continued ignoring her, "Now don't ruin my fun Granger, it's bad enough having to sneak in here after barely escaping my favorite Slytherin girls," he said with an annoyed look in their direction, "Try not to be a bother while I create a little havoc will you?"  
  
He started walking around laying drink pitchers sideways, placing people's fingers up their nose, or some guys hands on very inappropriate spots on their female friends...  
  
"Malfoy stop that!" Hermione scolded as she went around undoing all this, as it was going to have very chaotic results when the spell was undone. She walked a few table behind him fixing everything as he messed it up.  
  
He sighed, "Next time try not to be licking your friends legs under the table when I'm doing a spell will you?"  
  
"You're disgusting! Augh cut it out!" she shouted as she squeamishly pulled a guys sleeve to tug his hand out of his pants.  
  
"Do you always have to hang around with the rest of your loser friends? I couldn't even get a word in at the store before without the mini weasel interrogating me," he said as he removed some guy's expensive watch and put it on his hand, "What's a Rolex?" he asked admiring it on his wrist.  
  
"It's a muggle watch," she answered as she grabbed his hand and unfastened it, "You had something to say to me?"  
  
He held her hand still; "I had to tell you about Dumbledore's little visit the other day, he knows about my father and the death eaters. He knows what happened," he said gravely, fixedly looking at a scratch on Hermione's hand that he was holding and unconsciously stroking it with his thumb.  
  
"What?" she said slightly in alarm and not noticing that he was still holding her hand, "How?"  
  
"Remember the man I was supposed to kill? He got away and had a little chat with Dumbledore about me, and he saw the whole thing between my father and I. He knows everything."  
  
"Oh my God, what are you going to do? And...why are you telling me this?" she said with an anxious tone in her voice.  
  
"Seems like you would have wanted to know as Dumbledore obviously knows about your little tall tale," he said as he removed his gaze from her hand to her eyes.  
  
"I don't care about that anymore," she said firmly as she looked away from him, "I did the right thing; it's your father that deserved the blame."  
  
"I don't understand you Granger, why do you even care?" he said with a mounting degree of frustration, "Why did you involve yourself in the first place?"  
  
She shrugged, "I don't know why I did anything in the beginning," she began resolutely then looked back into his eyes, "But I know now that you're not like them." His eyes were intense but warm now and she found their dense grayness intoxicating. She noticed his hair wasn't slicked back today but loosely framing his face and she remembered that she had told him that she liked it that way.  
  
He noticed her looking at his hair, "You like it like this huh?" he asked faintly amused. She blushed slightly and he saw her warm brown eyes glow in a way that made him look at her differently. He saw a level of trust that he'd never seen anyone look at him with before.  
  
"I really could care less how you wear your hair," she said catching herself as she had made it too apparent that she noticed. She looked away from him and it almost pained him, as he was growing accustomed to this odd sense of security he felt around her. She was the only person that understood him now. He didn't have to be the son of a death eater around her and she saw him for who he really was. But what he didn't understand was why HE didn't even know who he was. He knew though that she was the only person that could help him discover it. Before he knew what he was doing he found his hand had moved up to her face. He took her chin in his hand and turned her to face him. It surprised her and she found herself looking away again, not trusting herself to handle the tension she was feeling.  
  
"Why won't you look at me?" he whispered. At that, she found herself weakening and couldn't help looking into his eyes again. She noticed then his hand holding hers and she felt unaware of the frozen room around her. She felt him tighten his grip and saw him lean in as she felt her eyes begin to close.  
  
Draco lost himself in the moment but all of a sudden he looked over her shoulder and saw Harry and Ron and everything came crashing down on him. She was a mudblood for God's sake and a Gryffindor at that. And he was of the purest wizard blood as well as a Slytherin. He felt himself snap out of it and let go of her hand. Her eyes snapped open in surprise but she too felt aware of what she was doing immediately and felt a deep sense of anger at herself for allowing this to happen. He couldn't take the tension anymore so he did what he always did towards mudbloods. Become a malicious jerk.  
  
His eyes turned cold and bitter, "What? Did you think I was going to kiss you Granger?"  
  
She felt fury build up inside of her and she shoved him away from her as hard as she could. He fell right on top of Pansy's table, knocking over everything on it. Hermione took out her wand and placed it harshly onto his neck.  
  
"Undo the spell...RIGHT NOW!" she bellowed threateningly. He had no choice but to mutter the counter spell.  
  
The entire room came back to life and Hermione stormed away but not before taking a glimpse of the suit that had been lying on the chair where he was sitting before. It was all black with a tail on the jacket and even the cummerbund was black as well. She resolved to stay as far away from him as physically possible at the ball with them being in the same room. She returned to the table where her friends were sitting.  
  
"Let's go NOW."  
  
"But don't you want to..." Harry wasn't able to finish.  
  
"NOW!"  
  
"Fine, fine jeez I'd have thought you'd like to watch Pansy devour Malfoy."  
  
Hermione apparently hadn't noticed the screams as the cups and pitchers on Pansy's table spilled as the room unfroze. And to top it off Malfoy was on top of the table to Pansy's delight. She had grabbed him now but Hermione could hardly see her. She was blinded with anger and if looks could kill, the look she was giving Malfoy would have chopped him into mincemeat.  
  
"Yah guys let's leave, this place has been creeping me out from the beginning and I think this butterbeer is literally buttered beer!" Ginny exclaimed with some of the Slytherins giving her a thanks-for-stating-the- obvious look.  
  
"Yah and I think Ron's had a few too many." Harry said looking worriedly at Ron whose eyes were half closed and was gulping down the rest of his cup.  
  
"Oh God! Am I never going to get out of here?!" shrieked Hermione to everyone's surprise. Harry shot Ginny a what's-with-HER look. She shrugged back as they both tried to get Ron up. They helped him out of his chair and he was worse than expected. He was as unstable as Neville in Potions class except he had this crazed grin on his face. He was stumbling out of the pub except to their horror he stopped at Pansy's table.  
  
"You're purty," he said with a shy giggle but then he starting laughing wildly. People started to notice the commotion and taunts came from all directions. Even Draco was giving him a look as he was struggling to get out of Pansy's grasp.  
  
"The freckled carrot would much rather be in this position, wouldn't you Weasley?"  
  
"Suuuure," he said with Hermione looking on, completely mortified.  
  
"Look at the drunk Gryffindor!" Goyle bellowed as everyone starting laughing hysterically and pointing. They rushed out of the pub as quickly as possible, which was quite difficult as Ron started making kissy faces at Pansy. Hermione grabbed his arm and literally dragged him toward the door. Draco was screaming at this point.  
  
"Bad Touches! Bad Touches!" he screeched as Pansy and the rest of the girls were swarming him. They didn't think his new hairstyle was too bad either. Hermione made sure to look back at him as she left and as she saw his eyes pleading for help she grinned in her OWN evil way and left him there to be illegally fondled (in ways that can't be explained in this PG-13 fic). And hoping that maybe HE'LL see what it feels like to be toyed with...literally. She got Ron out with one final tug and as she closed the door she smiled as she heard another of Draco's violated screams echoing from inside the pub.  
  
  
  
  
  
o0o0o0o the tension is on the riiiiise LoL done with another chappie yay and hopefully the next one will be the ball but of course with my psychotic tendency to stall things we'll see oh and REVIEW PPLLEEASSE!!!  
  
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Okkaayyy I need help hahaha is there some form of therapy for this? I'll start an RA- Reviewoholics Anonymous hahaha anyone interested? LoL just review so I don't go COMPLETELY bonkers cuz I'm totally almost there hahaha  
  
***ok btw you all hafta read The Mistake They Can't Deny and I'm With You by SweetWater they're SOOO good and LyraAdriana caught a lil mistake of mine-yes Hermione could have used the "point me" spell to get out of the forest I stand corrected but you know they were both in the forest and we totally needed some D/Hr alone time so I decided to let them get lost a while n all that u know LoL ok then till next chapter cya and REVIEW!!!! Haha I'm sorry I'm so bossy bad me LoL  
  
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V 


	10. A Rolex, A Net, Forgive and Forget

Disclaimer: Ok maybe I should like STEAL Draco…..is  that possible? Can someone find out for me? J.K.R. owns it all…..for now LoL

Author's Note:

As predicted this is another chapter of stuff other than the ball cuz like it's a big part of the story so I'm stalling LoL but don't worry this chapter has lotsa crazy stuff too kk enjoy!! 

**                                                                                    Slythindor                                                                           **

                                                           Ch.10:  A Rolex, A Net, Forgive and Forget                                                            

It was Sunday, the second day of the Hogsmeade trip for the people who needed muggle dress clothes, which meant for practically the whole school. Hermione already had some though so, needing to catch up with her Potions (as in reading 5 chapters ahead), she stayed at the school. Harry went though just to have fun with everyone else and they tried to persuade her to come. She however resisted, making all sorts of excuses about the school being empty and finally having some quiet study time and other typical Hermione-like explanations. She tried her best to convince herself that those were the only reasons she stayed behind, since deep down she felt the real reason. She had figured that Malfoy was sure to go to Hogsmeade, because he was the last person on the planet to have any sort of muggle clothes. She was still fuming from the stunt he pulled on her yesterday so she had resolved to stay as far away from him as possible. She was also cross with herself for letting her hormones get the best of her. She couldn't understand what attracted her so much to him and she was hoping that she'd forget. So, burying herself in her book, and sipping her hot chocolate, she tried to keep her mind off it. 

"Hey uh…..book girl," she heard someone say from beyond the book she was holding. She put it down and looked up to see an oddly familiar older Gryffindor boy. She gave him a questioning look and he continued, "Have you seen my Rolex?"

Hermione stiffened remembering immediately that he was the guy Draco took the watch from, but then found that she had no idea where the Rolex went. She remembered unfastening it from his hand then…..did she take it off? She couldn't for the life of her remember, but she certainly wasn't going to ask Draco about it.

"Oh you're Rolex…..I have no idea where I put it," she said and as he responded with raised eyebrows she realized her slip, "Oh I mean I haven't seen it sorry," she said abruptly and covered her face with her book again.

"Say, don't I know you from somewhere?" he asked trying to peer past the book. She put it down again and looked at him. He did seem familiar. He was a tall brown haired boy with cute dimples and deep blue eyes. His straight hair was eye length and it parted in the middle and he was rather handsome. 

"You do look familiar…..but I can't quite place you."

"Wait, you're name's Hermione right? You live around the block from me in the house with that tooth mailbox."

She cringed at the mention of the horrid mailbox her parents had insisted on using, "Yah that would be me, I think I'm starting to remember you now."

"My name's Hayden Murray. You're parents invited my family over for dinner a couple of years ago when we moved in."

"Oh yah, I remember now you're the kid with the terrible twin siblings," she said then bit her lip at yet another slip, "Sorry," she said flushed from embarrassment. His younger brother and sister were twins and they were more destructive than Seamus in Charms class. And that's saying something. As soon as they got in the house they ran to the TV, started fighting over the remote and it got flung into the fish tank. Hermione put on a movie for them, but 5 minutes into it they started having a fit over when dinner was going to start. Then at dinner all they did was throw the food at each other, and that included the soup and mashed potatoes. After dinner Hermione was stuck cleaning everything up so she didn't notice them in her room ripping pages out of Hogwarts: A History.

"No problem, trust me we get that a lot, those guys sure can be a handful," he said sitting down on the chair next to her.

She smiled in agreement, even though she though that was the understatement of the century, "I kind of didn't notice you there though, I was pretty busy with them."

"Yah, I tried to talk to you too, since we go to the same school and all, but you were in a bit of a frenzy." 

She grinned at him and realized that he was rather pleasant to talk to. They talked for quite a while but she soon realized that he wasn't exactly her type…

"I HATE reading, if there was one thing I would never want to do again it would be READING. It's so boring and annoying I can't stand it," he said looking disgusted while he was even talking about it.

"Oh…I don't mind it so much," Hermione herself greatly understating. She talked to him a little longer and she found that he was more of Lavender or Parvati's type. He was nice looks-wise but definitely not brain-wise and also very over excitable about things. Like just now she realized her hot chocolate had turned to cold chocolate as she was talking to him, so she used a very simple heating spell.

"Thermosis!" she said waving her wand over the cup and watching it steam over. 

"Wow! That's a great spell! No wonder you're at the head of your class! Whoa!"

"Umm…thanks, it's pretty simple really," she said giving him a weird look as he looked absolutely awestruck at her cup. 

He was a friendly guy though unlike SOME people she knew, and she could always use another friend. However, he didn't seem to take it in that direction.

"Hey, what are you wearing to the first night of the ball? I think I owe you a dance after what happened at your house," he said grinning. Hermione was a bit surprised at this but at the same time flattered. 'Why not after all?' she thought, 'It's just one dance. NO it could be every dance for all I care, what's tying me down? But I don't want him to think I'm interested in being more than friends or anything…oh well it couldn't hurt.

"I'm wearing a velvet maroon dress and a matching feathered mask."

"I'll wait for you next to the door then ok?" 

"Alright," she answered grinning slightly. They started talking again for a little while, but then out of the corner of her eye Hermione noticed a very disdainful figure emerge from the boy's dormitories. She recognized Draco as he lounged on one of the huge colorful couches on the opposite side of the room with a book in his hands. His hair was slicked back today and she was surprised at her disappointment. She was stunned at herself for caring at all after what he did to her so she turned back to her conversation with Hayden.

Draco had woken up late that morning after not being able to sleep half the night before. Partly because of the several violations done upon him the day before and partly, to his annoyance, because of Hermione. He kept envisioning her warm, comforting brown eyes, and the fire inside of her that he couldn't help being drawn to. She dominated his thoughts in a way no girl had ever done before and he couldn't stand it anymore. He had slicked his hair back that morning, trying his best to convince himself that he wanted nothing more than having things go back to the way they were. And that included keeping Pansy from groping him all day. He grabbed a book and nonchalantly walked down to the common room.  He pretended not to notice Hermione talking with an older preppy-looking Gryffindor- interestingly the one that had the Rolex. He did notice them though and it bothered him to a point where he just wanted to get up and leave while the impulse came for a source unknown to him. It bothered him even more that he even cared at all who she talked to. She was just a stupid mudblood and he wasn't concerned with her at all. That's what he kept telling himself anyway.

'What is he _doing_ here?' she thought to herself, 'Wait why do I care? That evil jerk thinks he can play games with me.' His words had echoed in her brain all night, 'What? Did you think I was going to kiss you Granger?' Fury boiled inside of her and she grew angry at herself again for falling for his wicked stunt and realized that she was now glaring at him and scowling. 

"Uh Hermione?"

Hermione snapped back out of space. She hadn't realized that she had gone into a daze and hadn't heard a word Hayden said for the past 5 minutes. He followed her angry stare and his eyes rested on Malfoy. 

"That's Lucius' son isn't it? I heard he was rather unpleasant…caused you a bit of trouble did he?"

She was about to ask him how he knew, but realized that she was glowering at Malfoy again. He looked rather uncomfortable as he kept changing his sitting position every 5 seconds. He didn't seem to be concentrating on the book well either as his brow was furrowed and he looked as if he were distracted over something. 

"He causes everyone trouble," she returned. They kept talking about him and more animatedly too with Hermione enjoying it immensely. Draco noticed of course, 'That's it, if I see one more ferret impression I'll go Cruciatus crazy on those bloody…mudbloods!' he thought, but with another laugh from their direction he got up and decided to console himself with his drop dead gorgeous reflection. They watched him get up in a huff while still laughing and Hermione knew it was because of them. He had given her a withering glance as he stormed back into his dormitories aggravated. She didn't care; he got what was coming to him, though she knew it wouldn't affect him much what she said anyway. 

"Half the bloody girls in the school are absolutely swooning over him. I don't see what's so great about him do you?" Hayden started up again as he caught her gaze. 

"NO, why would I? That's preposterous, it's completely absurd, I'm not interested in him at all," she said more defensively than she had intended.  

"Ok…..well I have to go, but I'll talk to you later. Oh and be sure to tell me I you see my watch around," Hayden said as he got up and she could have sworn that he winked at her before he left.

"Alright, bye!," she said a little irritated at herself for being so dramatic. She didn't care though so she continued her reading for a little while longer, not being able to concentrate too well on the uses of Mundrake leaves and Wolfsbane. 

"Hermione is that you?" asked an annoyingly familiar female voice.

"Of course it's her do you not SEE how heavy that book is?" asked another. Hermione looked up to see Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, the gossip queens of Hogwarts. Hermione often wondered if Parvati's twin Padma had traded brains with Lavendar as her and Parvati seemed to have an odd sisterly bond. They were both like the same person as they never disagreed on anything or left each other's side. Their expression was one of excitement and anticipation as Hermione was knowingly looking back at them, clearly aware of what they were going to ask her about.     

"Hi, did you guys want something?" she asked a little annoyed at their comment about the book since it was THEIR potions book too. 

"We wanted to know what your dress looks like for the muggle themed night," Parvati inquired expectantly. They had found out what everyone was wearing to the Victorian one yesterday and today they were making their rounds asking about the next one. 

Hermione grinned, "Oh it's a long blue glittery halter top and it has this short train at the end of it. It's a darker shade of blue at the top and it's tight there then it sort of widens as you get to the bottom. It's really pretty my aunt bought it for me last Christmas. I think I'm going to charm my eyes to match too."

"Wow that sounds really nice! Who do you think you'll end up dancing with?" Lavendar asked as her eyes gleamed excitedly.

She shrugged, "I don't know, hopefully someone nice, and sweet and…"

"What?! Come on 'Mione your surrounded with nice and sweet guys, don't you want a bad boy for once?" Parvarti asked with Lavendar nodding in agreement. 

"Yah, bad boys are so…" Lavendar started.

"Revolting? Nauseating? Disgusting, evil, malicious jerks?!" Hermione burst out, again being melodramatic.

"No…come _on,_ deep down _every _girl wants the bad boy, they're so dangerous and exciting and when you're with them you can't help but to be a little 'bad' yourself. Tell me you don't feel any tension when you're near say…Draco Malfoy."

Hermione felt herself jump 10 feet in the air at that, "NO! I don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about," she said in a huff while crossing her arms.

"Ok…," Parvati said giving Lavendar a she's-got-some-serious-issues look, "Well we'll see you later then," she said getting up and walking out of the common room, probably to go find more people to pester.

Again Hermione tried her best to keep reading, praying to God that no more annoying people will disturb her. Up in the boy's dormitories Draco was staring into the mirror, 'Still strikingly gorgeous, but damn it I'm feeling less conceited today.' He dropped onto his bed and sighed, 'This is hopeless, I have to talk to her. NO! I hate her, where has my Malfoy pride gone? I can't believe I almost kissed a mudblood,' he thought and shook his head and buried his face in his hands from frustration. Just then he noticed the Rolex on his wrist. He grinned as he remembered doing a little snatching maneuver of his yesterday at the pub. Suddenly he had an idea. He took off down the stairs and into the common room again. 'Is it just me, or did that book get even bigger? Whatever.' He sat down on a chair directly opposite her on the other side of the room and started shining it, 'Goddamn it, she hasn't moved a muscle…..I'll have to resort to more rash methods…' He did what no Malfoy had done before; he started whistling. Ok so it was the tune to 'Hail the Dark Lord' but whatever. She looked up, 'What in the name of…aha! There's that Rolex, but how on earth did he…now where's he going?' she couldn't even put a complete thought together while she watched him curiously as he had abruptly got up and left the common room. 'Should I go after him? Who knows what he'll do to it. NO he probably _wants_ you to go after him. Wait, why would he want that? Don't flatter yourself, and besides you gave Hayden your word.' She got up and walked out of the common room after him. She saw no trace of him beyond the door though, but after she turned around to go back he startled her as he was standing right next to the picture.

"Oh God Malfoy are you _trying_ to give me a heart attack?"

"Well, I have been known to be quite a heart stopper," he said smirking.

She rolled her eyes, "Hand over the watch Malfoy, it doesn't belong to you." 

"This watch?" he asked as he walked toward the center of the tower. The ceiling was high there and the floor was low as the staircases rimmed the sides of it. Malfoy held the watch over the edge ominously and Hermione became livid. 

"You stop that NOW Malfoy, this isn't one of your stupid games. Why can't you get it through your thick, conceited skull that I'm not your toy to play with?"

He ignored her, "What's this watch to you anyway? Your new dense boyfriend wants it back?"

"He's not my boyfriend! And he's not den…," her pause submitted to the fact that he _wasn't_ the brightest crayon in the box, and it caused Malfoy to smirk again, "Augh! Just shut up and give it to me!"

She tried to snatch it out of his hand but he was too quick for her. He backed up and he didn't notice the web of rope he was slowly backing up into. Hermione tried to grab the Rolex again and she got hold of it. He moved back again though then before they knew it they were swallowed up by a large net and were lifted right off the ground all the way up to the top of the tower. 

Hermione screamed, "What just happened?! Why am I in a net with YOU?! Why am I in a net PERIOD?! And about 100 ft from the ground?!" she screamed again. It was a rather large net probably meant to catch something of substantial size and weight, but not as much as two people so they had hardly any room to move. They were clinging onto opposite sides of it trying to maintain space between them but it was hopeless. "This is all _your_ fault!" 

"Me?! How is it my bloody fault?"

"If you hadn't started playing your idiotic games in the first place this would have never happened! And who on earth would place a hunting net in the middle of a bloody school?!"

"I don't know and don't think I'm enjoying this any more that you are!"

"SHUT UP! Don't talk to me! I've had enough of you already, what are you even DOING here today?"

 He sat silently and smirked. She glared at him, "WELL?!"

"You said not to talk to you!"

Hermione tried to choke him.

 "You bloody, disgusting, VILE…"

He struggled to hold her still, "Would you stop it already you're not making this any better!"

She took a deep breath, "You know what? Now that I think about it this _is_ my fault…..after all I did save your life. Augh! Of all the _stupid_ things, I should have left you for dead! You filthy, evil….."

She lunged at him even though he was two inches away from her, and started strangling him yet again.

"Cut it out!" he shouted as he strained to keep her still, "We'll fall!"

She stopped in a huff and leaned back onto the rope. She settled him with a fierce stare.

"Now if I give you permission, will you tell me why on my cursed, cursed luck you're here today?"

He was going to answer back with 'yes teacher' but thought better of it. He nodded.

"Okay then Mr. I-beat-muggles-with-a-stick, spit it out!"

"Because it's Sunday," he stated plainly, then seeing that he was in very direct danger from her stare, he continued, "My father goes to Hogsmeade on Sundays, he and the others go and have drinks at the pub down there." 

She softened a little, "Oh…but where are you going to get your clothes for the ball then?"

"I gave Crabbe and Goyle a couple hundred galleons to buy me a decent suit, hopefully they won't blow them on a shopping spree at the candy store. Or eating out the All-you-can-eat-buffet. Or paying someone to be their dates…."

"OR buying themselves some new brains," Hermione continued, chuckling faintly.

"More like buying brains period," Draco said changing his smirk to a grin.

Hermione looked away from him and her face turned serious again, "How are we going to get down from here? And who could have done this?" They sat thinking about it for a while and after a few minutes; they seemed to have thought of the culprit at the same time.

"Peeves!" they both shouted aloud in unison. 

"Him and his stupid pranks, we're going to be stuck here all DAY," Hermione sighed exasperatedly.

"Well I'm sure we can find something to do," he said slyly winking at her.

She glowered at him, "What happened to the not talking to me?  And what is _with_ you? Why ARE you talking to me in the first place? Oddly enough, I haven't heard the word 'mudblood' all day."

He stared back smirking again, but as she gave him a talk-or-die look he shrugged, "Something happened."

"And what's that? You're being possessed?" Suddenly she looked like she actually believed that concept and she raised her eyebrows at him.

"NO I just don't see the point anymore."

"The point of what?"

"THE POINT OF HATING YOU!" Draco shouted to both their shock and he looked away from her frustrated. He had felt something snap inside his head when he had said that but he didn't know what it was.

"Oh…," she was speechless from her confusion. She couldn't stand it so she changed the subject, "Malfoy, I've been meaning to ask you…what are you going to do about your father now?

He paused, "I haven't really thought about it," he said gravely, looking away. Then suddenly something inside him felt the need to tell her what he was really thinking, and before he could stop himself, he dismally continued, "Most of my life I had idolized my father, but lately I've started to feel differently towards all his extreme beliefs. Now, I've been trying to avoid him rather than accept that my future has already been set out for me. For the most part I _had_ accepted it, but now more than ever, I realize that I have to face the one fact I had always known deep down about my father."

She looked into his soft, somber eyes and saw a deep sincerity that she could have never imagined he possessed, "And what's that?"

He sighed and told her plainly, "He has to be stopped."

He noticed her glancing at him with a reverent yet surprised look and returned it with one of slight appreciation. It was like he felt that she was the only person that gave a damn about him, someone who he could say all this to and won't hold it against him. He was surprised that it was her of all people and as hard as he tried now to stop it, his pent up feelings and emotions had finally found someone to confess to and spill out all that's been troubling him. All the things that have been plaguing his mind from the beginning were swallowing up his pride unknowingly, and forcing him to ease the burdens he was carrying for so long.

"Well, if anyone can stop Lucius…it's you," she said almost believingly.

He scoffed, "Me? The last time I was with him I had to be saved by a mudblood," he said then realized his slip. But was it a slip?

She narrowed her eyes at him and there was a long pause. With venom in her voice she retorted, "Yes I suppose that's true isn't it? Evil can't conquer evil, someone good will have to take care of him, someone like Harry for instance," she said with pride in her friend but as he scoffed again she continued in a more firm voice, "And you don't see the point in hating me? I couldn't believe that of course. You may not see the point in hating me Malfoy," she paused to look him directly in the eye, "But I see the point in hating you." 

The look she gave him was piercing and the words pierced even more. He couldn't handle the conflict inside of him but all he could do was look away.  

Now if she were any position to move at all she would have walked away but as she was barely half a foot away from him she just fidgeted uncomfortably. His face was expressionless and it irritated her, so deciding to do something constructive about their situation, she looked around at how exactly the net was held up. She saw a pulley above them to the right and if she observed that if she could just get to the rope she could probably be able to lower them. As Draco looked on with a puzzled expression, she reached her hand out to try to grab the rope but only managed to cause a part of the rope to come undone on top of the hole her hand was through. She got most of her arm out but it tightened hard on her wrist and the more she tugged the tighter it became. Soon it was starting to hurt severely and it cut off her circulation.

"My wrist, ow, oh my god my WRIST …" she said as her voice escalated with the pain. Draco held her still.

"Shh, stop moving," he whispered softly and he took either side of the hole with his hands and pulled hard. It didn't work though and Hermione gave him a helpless look that made him want to do nothing else than to make her feel better. She looked like she was going to cry at any second now and suddenly Draco remembered that he had something that would do the trick. He reached down into his left sock and pulled out a snap-up knife. He started to cut the part of the rope that Hermione was caught in. Hermione however, being the intelligent person that she is, knew that a net is basically just sections of intertwined rope so if you cut one part….

"Wait Malfoy this entire section is going to…."  

Too late.

"Why do you always end up on top of me?" she asked as he had cut the rope and the portion that she was leaning on had snapped back and he had fallen on top of her while still holding her hand that he freed.  

"Why? Enjoying it?"

"NO!" she said as she struggled to get from under him.

"Well SORRYY," he said sarcastically.

She stopped struggling and looked him in the eye, "_Are_ you sorry?" she asked him directly remembering all that he'd done to her, and finally catching him saying the one word she'd always wanted to hear. He looked at her bewildered, but her eyes sought something that he couldn't give her. 

"Malfoy's don't apologize Granger…they compensate." 

She saw his silvery eyes grow warm from a source she couldn't imagine was inside of him. 

"Compensate? How…" she began breathlessly even though she knew the answer. She tried to prevent herself from allowing it but as he gently touched his lips to hers she forgot that he was a Slytherin and she a Gryffindor, she forgot where they were, and come to think of it she forgot that her name was Hermione. His soft, searching lips caressed hers and her hand was intertwined with his.  He placed his other hand on the side of her face and deepened the kiss as he stroked her cheek. All the things he'd wanted to say, all the thank you's, all the apologies, everything his pride would allow poured out as he kissed her. The overflow of emotion in the kiss completely overwhelmed her as she ran her fingers through his slicked hair and tousled it down. Then she moved her hand from his hair to the side of the net and held the rope. But as she did she felt the deep realization of where she was and what she was doing and pulled away. They were both breathing heavily now and while Draco was trying to catch Hermione's eyes she looked away. 

Suddenly they heard a singsong voice, "Oooh! Two little Slythindors sitting in a net! Are they snogging? Oh you bet!" They looked over and saw Peeves bouncing off the walls, grinning mischievously at them. The scrambled to get off of each other but it didn't do much since they were a little tangled in the net so it kind of made them look like they were doing something they really weren't supposed to be…

"Oh you naughty, naughty students! Looks like I'll need to teach you a lesson! Hee hee!" he said mockingly condemning them. With alarm they saw him take a butcher knife out of…somewhere and waved it around, then he started singing again, "I never thought I would catch someone, but I got two! And now I'm going to have to drop both of you!"

"WHAT?!!," they both shouted in unison. They shouted fretful protests as he floated above them and did what they couldn't have dreaded more. 

"Toodeloo!" he said with a wild giggle as he chopped the rope that was holding them and watched them plummet toward the ground screaming. 

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Ahhhh ohh noooo what'll happen to them?? Haha I like had to add fluff to this chapter cuz I mean it's chapter 10 already LoL ok well you know what to do!! What--you don't?!! 

REEVIIIEEEWW!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!!!!!!!

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Hahaha CLICK IT ALREADY!!!!!!!!!

Erm…sorry my Reviewaholics Anonymous session starts in five minutes so my mental stability will be better soon hahahaha

*******ATTENTION ALL D/Hr FANS** -Go read The Mistake they Can't Deny and I'm With You they're both by SweetWater and they're reeeeallyyy good and also Harry Potter and the Forbidden Love by Shadow Slytherin which is also GREAT ok?? GO READ THEM!!!!! Ok I think I need to add 'how to stop bossing people around 101' to my class list next semester LoL cya!!

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              V                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        


	11. Lice, Dreams, and Horrified Screams

Disclaimer: Ok my attempt to steal Draco has failed so J.K.R still owns everything until I think up another crazy plot OR manage to get out of this penitentiary…LoL

Auththor's Note: 

OMG I'M SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

SORRY THIS IS LATE!!!!!!! My junior year of HS is HELL!!!!!!!!! I've been SWAMPEDDDD with work!!! Remember my boredom?? Well THAT'S out the window! Damn AP classes! Shout out to thank my wonderful AP Physics teacher and her daily quizzes and TONS of HW! Plus I had the PSAT's arggghh!! It was horrible! You'll be seein a lot of crazy vocab in this chapter as I wrote it mostly while I was in PSAT mode LoL so u'll probly be needin some visits to dictionary.com LoL SOOO sorry again!!

Slythindor 

Ch.11: Lice, Dreams, and Horrified Screams

"Oh Headmaster good! I've been trying to find you all _day_," Professor Mcgonagoll said relieved as she hastily rushed into a classroom she had found Dumbledore in. Her arms were mountainously piled with books as she approached him interrupting his…meditation? He fell from his tranquil floating state as her shrill voice echoed through the room, "The students _aren't _getting any better, and the ball is but a week away. I can't bear to lose that wager I have with Severus, he'll be giving me that superior smirk he has for the rest of my days!"

"Oh for heaven's sake Minerva! I know I said they should have been getting along better by now, but Peeves informs me that's some of them are progressing quite well…so do try to not get so worked up," he said with his usual smile in a congenial tone.

"You're trusting the poltergeists now Dumbledore? And _Peeves_ at that! I've been hearing an awful lot of complaints about him lately, he's been causing quite a bit of mischief."

"Hasn't he always?" he replied affably with a wink. He smiled with amusement as Mcgonagoll frowned and left the room in the same state of disarray she had entered with.

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As Peeves cut the rope, pure terror washed over them as Draco and Hermione plummeted to the ground screaming at the top of their lungs. It was a long distance to the ground but Draco knew he had about 5 seconds to think of what to do. He took out his wand and realized Hermione's deafening scream had stopped then recalled why that had happened the last time they were in a situation like this. She had passed out again so it was completely up to Draco now to see that their bodies didn't get engraved into the ground. Draco never had quick reflexes but the adrenaline overflow helped a bit as he shouted out a spell.

"Suspendium!" he yelled and heaved a colossal sigh of relief as they stopped in midair about 5 feet from the floor. His breathing was very heavy now from the panic and they were still tangled in the net. He managed to get himself loose though so he cut the net open. He jumped out and looked up at the unconscious Hermione, but as he reached out to extricate her from the rope, Peeves materialized at his side. 

"Peeves! You utterly idiotic, _thoughtless_ poltergeist you could have goddamn bloody killed us!" Draco yelled menacingly with his frustration at a maximum from knowing he couldn't clobber a ghost. Peeves was wearing an evil grin and just looked back at Draco bemusedly. Then out of nowhere he pulled out a scratched up old looking wand and pointed it at Hermione.

"What do you think you're _do_..." Draco began but before he knew it Hermione had been released from his spell. He got below her in time though and caught her tangled up cataleptic body.  He looked up at Peeves completely bewildered at his abnormal hazardous behavior.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! Are you completely senseless?! Why in bloody hell are you trying to KILL us?!" Draco shouted at him fixing him with a furious glare. Then his irate stare turned to one of bizarre astonishment as he noticed Peeves' eyes were blood red. They stood out against his white, transparent body while he still wore the wicked grin. There was an odd familiarity in them that he couldn't quite place. Then as Draco was still giving him a perplexed look and was opening his mouth to question him, Peeves completely vanished. 'Since when could the Hogwart's ghosts disappear like that? And I know I've seen those eyes somewhere before…but I'll have to deal with that later,' he thought as he approached the common room door with Hermione still in his arms. He swore as he remembered the door wouldn't open without a compliment. He thought for a second and recalled a little way around the door problem…sarcasm.

He smirked, "Hermione has an impeccable ability to stay conscious even through the most frightening situations."

The door swung open. He chuckled superiorly as he entered the empty common room. He figured it was lunchtime and without an effort carried Hermione up to her bed and gently laid her down. He untangled her from the rope then harshly kicked it under the bed. Just then realized, he was also kicking himself. 'What did I just do? _WHAT_ did I _JUST_ do?!' he was dumbstruck as he thought back to his earlier actions. There was something horribly wrong with him and he couldn't take it anymore. With a last glance at her serene state of unconsciousness he bolted down the stairs and out of the common room. Watching carefully for more traps, he made his way to the Great Hall with great difficulty as he kept stopping, deeply considering just slamming his head into the opposite wall. Everything was so confusing for him now as it felt like two sides of his mind were having their own WWF* match. Why was this happening to him? Why couldn't he be like the rest of his family? He wanted so much to just be purely evil like them and yet a part of him longed for the opposite. He always tried his best to be malicious but he never reached that level, he never broke that barrier from rude and immoral to ruthless and merciless. His head ached and the throbbing reverberated throughout his body sending endless pangs of pain and confusion inside of him. Draco was beyond consolation now as he had passed at least three mirrors and had not once commented on how painstakingly ravishing he was. Suddenly, as he approached the door to the Great Hall, he realized that he wasn't even hungry. He changed directions and headed toward the tall, carved wooden front doors. As he opened them an unnatural chill overcame him from the foggy air beyond the frosty doorway, but the feeling went as fast as it came with Draco not even giving it a second thought. He felt better as he left the castle, taking refuge under a tree glistening with snowflakes. This weather usually suited him as his coldness inside matched the icy winter around him, but today it seemed to bother him. He was surprised as a chill went coasting through his veins and suddenly for the first time, he felt uncomfortable in the cold. What was wrong with him today? He felt irritated yet forlorn as he got up and headed back toward the castle a while later, not realizing that someone was watching him…

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Back at the girl's dormitories in Sythindor Tower…uhh or Dungeon… Towngeon? Whatever. Anyway, Hermione stirred as she was being annoyingly nudged repeatedly, but by whom she had no idea. All she knew was that if they prodded her one more time she'd seriously go on a homicidal rampage.    

"Hermione? What's wrong with her? Should we get someone to check on her? She's not moving..."

Another nudge. 

Hermione grabbed the hand and leapt upright. 

"Can't someone sleep a while without being incessantly prodded as if she was the bloody Pillsbury dough boy?!" Hermione opened her eyes and they looked upon a very surprised (and a little scared) Ginny with the gossip crew behind her.  Hermione sobered up a bit and released her tight grip of Ginny's hand. She scowled as she got up and slammed the door behind her, catching a few words from their whispers, which included "over worked," "that time of the month," and "St. Mungo's."

Down in the common room the students that returned from Hogsmeade were commencing in their habitual showing off what they bought routine. She heard Harry and Ron calling her from the other side of the room but decided to ignore them and continue out the door as she was in no mood to talk to anyone right now. 'Wait…WHY do I feel so crabby? And how on earth did I get in my dormitory in the first place?' Her mind was crowded with confused thoughts as she rushed through the hallways trying to clear her mind of whatever was bothering her. As she raced around a corner she crashed into someone. She mumbled something about clumsy people that never watch where they're going and continued on her way. A voice called out to her. 

"Hermione," was all the person said, very plainly yet a distinct stiffness could be heard. She turned around and felt her stomach turn as Draco stood before her wearing an expressionless face. Suddenly she grabbed her temples and sharply leaned on the wall as memories flooded to her brain. Everything that happened was coming back to her but for some reason she couldn't accept it. 'It was a dream,' she thought, 'Of course it was, I must have gone upstairs to my room and took a short nap.' She shook it off as his eyes gave a look of the slightest concern yet his face remained straight. 

"What's the matter?" he asked, his voice not betraying his concern but remaining stable.    

"Nothing," she spat shortly, oblivious to the fact that he used her first name, "I was just recalling a bad dream I had, and it's not a surprise that you were in it!" 

He couldn't resist smirking slightly, "Dreaming about me now are you?" 

She shot him a dirty look, "More like a NIGHTMARE if you ask me."

"Oh really? Trapped with me in a deep dark dungeon? A dragon's stomach perhaps?" he suggested, enjoying the aggravated look she was giving him immensely.

"No! It was a NET for all you care! Which I KNOW you don't because you just enjoy seeing me wound up ever so much!" she shouted expecting to see him smirk in admittance to this accusation, but instead his face lost what little color it had as his expression went from utter surprise to curiosity.

"A net huh?" he asked staring into space.

"Yah…" she answered with a very disturbed voice. 

His mind was racing. 'So she thought it was a dream… not too unbelievable. What happened was completely nonsensical and she did end up back in her bed which would explain completely why she thought she dreamt it all,' he stopped to think about what this would mean, 'You know what, it's better this way. I've actually found a way out of this horrible predicament so now we call all forget about it and move on.' But he couldn't forget about it. He had completely lost contact with the world outside his mind and Hermione had begun waving her hand in front of his face.

"HELLO?! What PLANET are you on?!" she yelled as she began clapping her hands trying to get him to snap out of it. She then thought of a better plan. "Draco what's that in your hair? Looks like tiny little itty bitty…oh no could that be…LICE?!"

"What?! Where?!" within a nanosecond Draco had a mirror out from whereabouts unknown and started combing frantically through his hair. Hermione tried to stifle her laughter but instead just turned around and walked away in a much better mood than before, leaving him with his frantic reflection and his frenzied muttering about unhygienic house elves.  

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By the next day Hermione was back to normal as she sat paying attention in Charms class. Professor Flitwick was lecturing them about changing hair and eye colors. It was actually a very difficult spell and Hermione was waiting expectantly for this lesson even though she had read everything about it in their textbook already and had mastered the spells. She twirled her hair and thought about how she would wear it the first night. 'Blonde? Nahh reminds me of Pansy. Black? Hmm…everyone's probably going to pick that. But maybe red? That would look nice, I love Ginny's hair…' Just then she snapped out of her reverie as the Professor asked her a question.

"The hair color spells have to end in '-blazio' and the eye ones have to end in '-octazio,' " she answered the question she hardly heard. She was gifted like that, not many people can just know what the question is out of instinct. Hermione had many academic talents. Anyway, moving on, as the Professor praised her for giving the correct answer he finished his lecture and instructional wand waving. He then commenced in breaking them up into groups. Hermione knew she was going to end up with Malfoy. She had picked up Flitwick's pattern from the beginning. He paired each Gryffindor with a Slytherin according to an alphabetical rotation and as last week she had been paired with Sissy Maddock, she was sure to get Malfoy this week. Except now she noticed he was breaking everyone up into groups of three this time…

"Hermione you'll be paired with Draco here, as well as…Ms. Parkinson, yes that's it," he announced shuffling with his scroll. Hermione was given looks of pity from all the Gyffindors and she found that she even pitied herself as she languidly made her way to their table.  

"Well if it isn't the poor little mudblood, I don't see why you should even bother with this spell…your hair would look dreadful in ANY color," Pansy spat with a cruel smile toward Hermione. Draco's face betrayed no emotion as he sat there staring into space again.

"Pansy you know if I changed it to Draco's color you'd be all over me so don't embarrass yourself any further," Hermione shot back nonchalantly, ignoring Pansy's stunned look and enjoying Draco's horrified expression. 

Hermione had noticed during the lecture that Professor Flitwick let out the section on unnatural hair colors like blue, green, etc. She presumed that he didn't want everyone to get carried away with it, as it was a formal ball after all. She thought nothing of it as she sat at the table. It had a mirror opposite each person's chair and she wasn't surprised to see Pansy with a brush out counting out her brush strokes (her usual is 100) and Draco still checking for any infestation in his hair. 'What exactly is the point of having groups in Charms class?' she thought, 'He once said it was for support and encouragement but in this case it was more like distraction and insults.' She sighed then took hold of her wand to experiment a bit. 

"Blackblazio!" she said pronouncing it perfectly and with just the right flick of the wand. Her hair turned midnight black and drew looks of admiration from the other students who could only succeed in lightening or darkening their own hair. Draco and Pansy looked up.

"We're starting already? I'm only up to 65 strokes!" Pansy complained, with Hermione rolling her eyes. Draco's eyes were guarded but she could see that his mouth was curling up the slightest bit. 

Hermione took hold of her wand again, "Greenoctazio!" Her eyes became illuminated as they grew a deep green color. Again everyone looked over at the accomplishment.

Draco couldn't help it now, "Well if it isn't the female version of Potter! Black hair and green eyes, seems a bit sickeningly familiar to me…"

Hermione bit her lip then smiled. She hadn't even noticed the resembling hair and eye colors, but took the opportunity to irritate Draco further, "You're right! Hey Harry, come here!" she called him over with a gesturing hand. He glanced in her direction then came over smiling.

He laughed, "If I'd had a sister I don't think she'd look a bit different than you 'Mione."

"Two Potters?! I'd probably lock myself up with a Ridgebacked dragon and pray that it eats me alive!" Draco announced with disgust.

"Well then we'd better get to work on that 'Mione, wouldn't want to miss such an opportunity to have Malfoy shredded into a million tiny pieces!" he said with a side wink to Hermione. Draco looked horrified.

Hermione played along treasuring Draco's face as she continued, "Can we do that? My parents can adopt you! Wouldn't that be fun Harry? And Sirius can come live with us too…"

 "I think that's a brilliant idea! Owl them tonight!" he said with fake excitement. Draco was scowling (Pansy was on brush stroke 92).

"Alright it's settled then! There would only be one reason why I wouldn't want to be your sister…" she said mischievously with him giving her a questioning look. She whispered 2 spells and waved her wand toward his head. She burst out laughing along with the rest of the class as she had given him silvery blonde hair and gray eyes. 

" 'Mione! I look revolting!" he said with a laugh and a side-glance at Draco.

 Draco grinned wickedly, "Actually, I think it's the best you've ever looked Potter!"

Harry scoffed, "I'll get you for this Hermione!" he said in mock outrage as he chuckled. He took out his wand and with determined concentration he whispered two spells. Hermione's hair turned golden and her eyes lit up again into a sky blue. She screamed as she looked into the mirror.

"Done!" announced Pansy as she reached her 100th brush stroke and snapping back into the world outside her reflection. Then as she looked up she dropped her brush with a scream of indignation. Her face turned smug though as she crossed her arms.

"Trying to look like me now are we? I'm not surprised," she announced pompously.

Hermione ignored her and turned to Harry with fake anger, "Harry you're…evil!"

They both laughed, but didn't notice Professor Flitwick approaching from behind them. 

"Seems as if you've both gotten it! Well done!" he praised them, then glanced over to see the mirror effect at the table, "Seems we've got a bit of a reflection here!" he said with a chuckle, then with a wicked grin he took out his own wand. Before they could do anything, Flitwick had made Draco and Pansy guinea pigs for a demonstration and with distinct flicks of his wand, and clear diction, the spell was successful. They were afraid to look in the mirror but when they did Draco had black hair and emerald green eyes and Pansy had russet brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. The class roared with laughter at their horrified screams. The professor continued on his stroll around helping everyone and left them in their steaming state.

"I look like I have a tar covered mop on my head!" Draco cried helplessly trying to undo the spell. 

"Hey! You're not the one that looks like a Death Eater!" Harry retorted.

Draco shot up from his chair, "What did you call me Potter?" he asked threateningly.

"Stop it! Both of you," Hermione gave them each stern looks. Then in an attempt to lighten things up she said, "At least neither of you look like PANSY!" They both gave the slightest grin but Pansy didn't take it so lightly.

"What did you say?! Because I'm so sure I feel so much better about looking like a filthy disgusting MUDBLOOD!" she shouted loud enough so that Flitwick couldn't hear.

"Shutup Pansy!" Harry yelled but found that he wasn't the only person shouting this retort in her direction. Draco, as if by pure instinct, shouted it just as Harry had. Draco froze, as they all stood dumbstruck looking at him.

He was speechless for a second but as Malfoy's have a cunning ability to cover up their mistake he excused himself, "Must be a side effect of the spell…GREAT now I'm imitating Potter! Augh someone undo this!"

Pansy looked heartbroken, "Oh…so you didn't mean it then? Because I mean…defending a mudblood…"

"Pansy…" Draco found himself seething through his teeth.

"…It's not very death-eater like…" she continued oblivious to Hermione's livid stare.

"I'm NOT a mudblood you self- absorbed brat and he's not a death-eater either! You're just plain bloody cynical!," Hermione felt like there was steam coming out of her ears from how irate she was, "This'll teach you Pansy! Purplazio Flamos!"

Pansy went into hysterics as her hair turned a very deep purple. The rest of the class started to notice and they went into complete fits of laughter. Before Flitwick noticed she ran out of the room in an absolute frenzy.  The professor then noticed where the laughter was directed and approached their table.

"What happened? Where's Ms. Parkinson?" he asked looking from one laughter ridden face to the next.

"Oh…she was here…see we were just….then she left and…" Harry tried to ramble out an excuse to no avail. Draco sighed at Harry's inability to formulate a coherent excuse in pressured situations.

"Pansy made a bit of a mistake with her hair sir, so to avoid more embarrassment she's gone to the bathroom to fix it," Draco answered calmly, and with the rest of the class buying it also, the Professor left them alone. Harry and Hermione looked at him incredulously. 

Draco thought fast, "Well…I couldn't tell him what happened or he'd have known it was really bad and gone to fix it for her. I happen to want to see Pansy going hysterical over the purple hair for a while longer, for sheer entertainment purposes of course." From the tone of his voice he was definitely trying to cover something up. Although his excuse was plausible, seeing that it was well known that he took pleasure in other people's anguish, his tone betrayed a glint of untruthfulness. Harry and Hermione glanced at each other questioningly, but before they could even think about that, their attention was brought again to their outrageous hair and eye colors. They each let out a small laugh and changed their hair colors back to normal. They could have sworn Draco's eyes gave a somewhat pleading look.

Harry snickered, "I think that's the best YOU'VE ever looked Malfoy. I know there's nothing more you'd enjoy than to spend the day looking like ME!" he said, as he ran his fingers through his hair and winked mockingly.

"Shutup Potter," Draco retorted scowling, then undeniably gave Hermione a what-have-I-done-to-deserve-this look. From the responding expression on her face it was a great many things but there was something really disturbing about him looking like Harry. So, she inaudibly whispered something in Harry's ear, then swiftly took out her wand. Draco's eyes lit up (well, went from dark to dim) and he prepared to have his hair restored to its gorgeous lustrous color, but instead, to his horror it turned fiery red and his eyes color changed to turquoise blue. 

Draco cried out in disgrace and humiliation, "How dare you make me look like a filthy Weasley!" He thundered as he grabbed his wand and tried his hardest to turn his hair back, losing concentration as everyone was doubled over with laughter including Ron. By the time he was able to change his eye color back the class was over. His hair still had bright red streaks in it to his utter annoyance and irritation, as they clashed greatly with his silvery blonde strands. It couldn't be helped since Harry and Hermione were the only ones who got the spell, and he feared that he'd have to stay with this horrid hair until they finished the lesson next class. Everyone watched as he let out an exasperated groan and stormed out of the room. Hermione felt a bit guilty, but it was just a joke after all, and a bloody good one at that. Visions of Pansy's hair made her feel better though as she stuffed her things into her oversized bag and headed out the door with Ron and Harry, still chuckling over the Slytherin's multi-colored hair.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That evening, Draco gazed darkly out the window at the trio who were walking back toward the castle from a visit to Hagrid's Hut after classes that day. He ran his hand through his blonde-red hair from frustration. His insides were twisted with mixed emotions. He felt angry yet frustrated, but he couldn't understand the source of frustration. His anger stemmed mostly from his bizarre actions yesterday and the disastrous events in Charms today. As he watched them laugh jovially as they approached the castle doors he could almost feel his temperature rise from annoyance. But why? He didn't understand why that would possibly bother him. He cracked his knuckles irritably as he sat on the tall polka-dotted chair in the corner near the window. Draco thought back to what Hermione had said the day before about her "dream." In a sense he could see why she could have thought it was a dream but in another sense, he couldn't believe it. How do you forget that something like happened? He sure wouldn't forget it anytime soon, yet Hermione was taking it like it was some sort of apocalypse. Well, so was he, but it was different…he knew it was real. His mind was filled with a sea of emotions, none of them coming together to form a logical explanation to what he was feeling.  She was probably going to come in the room right now, all happy with her friends, and give him a mocking look, still oblivious to what had happened. Just then, he knew that he couldn't possible bear that so before he knew what he was doing he had bolted from his seat, and headed for the girl's dormitory. He discreetly went through the door and dashed up the stairs. Well for part of the stairs, until he realized that he was dashing, then he continued up with some dignity. Opening the door, he entered into the dimly lit room, and was glad to find it empty. He made his way to her bed and bent down to look under it for the net. He had kicked it under when he had brought her back and it was the only evidence that what happened wasn't a dream. It was too dark to see, but as he was about to light up his wand he heard a scream from behind him. 

"MALFOY!," she gasped, as he bolted upright, "What in BLOODY HELL are you doing here?!" She wore an expression on anger and confusion. She glanced down at the spot where he was crouched down, "What were you looking for?" she demanded.

He seemed to have lost his voice for a minute, but it came back to him as her face darkened more, "Your dream," was all he managed to drawl out.

She looked at him even more confused than before. What did he want to know about her dream? The last time she had brought it up, he looked like his brain passed out from shock. She hadn't thought about it since then, and thoughts of the dream were accompanied by a chill when she remembered what had happened. It made her look at him differently, but she couldn't quite place how, it was just a product of her overworked subconscious after all. She had dismissed it completely just like any other dream. There seemed to be more to it though. What was going on? His curiosity was odd along with the fact that he was standing in front of her in the Girl's Dormitories with a nonsensical explanation to why he was here. 'Did I tell anyone else what happened in my dream?" she thought, 'No, I wouldn't have done anything like that. What's going on? Why in Merlin's beard he looking under my bed?'

"What ABOUT my dream?" she demanded, giving him a speak-or-die look.

Suddenly he got a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach, that maybe her dream was about something else. Maybe she did remember everything, but had some other dream with him and a net. However unlikely that was, he had an impulse to ask her about if she remembered anything from the day before.  

Changing the subject slightly he asked, "What were you doing yesterday before everyone came back from Hogsmeade?"

Thrown off by his interrogating tone, she answered, "I was asleep right here on my be-"

He cut her off, "No before that," he continued grilling her.

She couldn't remember a thing, all she could remember was her chat with Hayden then with Parvati and Lavender. She became flustered, "Why?" she demanded.

"You don't remember do you," he stated without a questioning tone. His face turned stiff from a source that was unclear to her.

"Remember what?! Malfoy, WHAT is going on?!"

"Nothing," he replied shortly and made move toward the door.

"Then WHY did you come here?!" she asked practically shouting, blocking his way to the door. His face was masked but his eyes revealed a fleeting glint of dejection. She softened, "What's the matter?

"Why do you care?" he snapped.

"Well, the state of your hair _is_ my fault, now isn't it?" she replied, glancing at his hair and had to cough to stifle her laughter.

He scowled, but as he watched the dim candlelight dance on her face his anger diminished. He knew this, whatever it was that was between them, had to end. He wouldn't let what was eating at him consume him entirely; he was too strong for that. Whatever it was that made him feel different around her, that made him want to change, that made him jump to her defense in an instant, that made him feel emotions he'd never felt before; all of it had to stop now. Hermione watched as his eyes flickered with emotion, but in a fleeting moment they turned icy again.

He made another move toward the door, but she stopped him placing her hand on his chest, "Tell me why you're here," she said softly.

Her touch made a quiver run through his body, but he was determined, "It's pointless for you to find out now, just leave me alone," and with that he made his way past her and out the door. She gazed on his departing figure, completely puzzled. She didn't understand what his problem was. 'He was in MY dormitory, then he tells me to leave him alone! He must be sniffing dragon dust or something,' she thought to herself, rolling her eyes. Her eyes made their way to the bottom of her bed, 'I wonder what he was looking for,' she thought, crouching down, 'He should know that NOTHING is pointless for me to find out.' She took out her wand, "Lumos!" She felt around as she searched for anything peculiar. She couldn't see or feel anything, 'Unless he was looking for dust bunnies, I have no clue what Draco was on about.' She started to get up, muttering some more about drug use when she caught sight of something. Something was sticking out from a pile of rubbish near the far corner bedpost. She crouched down again and started pulling what seemed to look like a piece of rope. She tugged at it and out it came…a net. Her face lost all its color as she sat and stared at it. The net even had the rip in it, and all the happenings of the previous day streamed through her mind quickly, plaguing every part of her body, paralyzing her. She couldn't move from disbelief. The net, all that he said…the kiss…it was all real…The impossible had become possible…and there was no going back.

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Kk Well I'll try my hardest to post another one soon but I can't make any promises due to a current HW OVERLOAD! LoL PLZZZZZ review!! They really motivate me hahaha and no incessant begging this time on my part the reviewaholics anonymous classes have been goin good LoL! Shout outs to my friends Mel n Kristen! Go read their fics! They're user names are SweetWater and ShadowSlyterin! Both have GREAT D/H fics!! REEAADDDD they'll keep ya busy till I post again kk? Cyyaaa n sorry again!!


	12. Poetry, Brawls, and Bathroom Stalls

Disclaimer: J.k. Rowling owns everything except this sorry plot line hahaha

Author's Note: Hey! Guess who's back! Back again! Susamina's back, back ag…*watches pitiful stares in my direction and clears throat* Right…well first I'll start with an apology for not updating but I really had to study guys…but I raised my GPA one point (u'd be surprised how hard that is) hahaha and a 4 out of 5 on my AP Physics test so yay I finished all that, it's done, completed and I have time again woo hoo! And a lot has happened since I last updated- Harry Potter 5! Got a nod towards that in this chapter so thatz cool...umm well I hope you like it I'll be updating soon after this one is up and please review thanks!

Chapter 12:  Poetry, Brawls and Bathroom Stalls

"And what causes the Throgweaves to turn purple, becoming a strong potion causing delusional behavior?"

Hermione's hand shot up during Potions class- no one was surprised. Snape tried to find someone else to call on and attempted to ignore her but as she was practically out of her seat he nodded in her direction. 

"It has to be mixed with Wolfsbane and Ancronite," she said, confident as usual.

"And what's this elixir called?" he asked in one of his futile attempts to catch her not knowing something. That of course required a miracle…and maybe a bit of that potion.

"Dystronesia," she answered correctly without the slightest waver of doubt in her voice.

"Mm…Correct," he mumbled and quickly moved on, "All right class you'll be making this potion today, and YES you will be required to test it. Now break into the groups you were in last time, we can't waste class time fretting childlike about groups."

Hermione sighed with relief; her last group was with Harry and Neville. Wait a sec…'Oh no! Not Neville!' she sulked inwardly. She was so busy being relieved that her last group wasn't with Malfoy that Neville had seemed like he was the next Potions master. But as he clumsily tripped over the size 3 cauldron on the floor and dropped half the ingredients on the table (from hopping up and down clutching his injured toe) she started to think that maybe Malfoy wouldn't have been so bad after all. She paused to think about this, considering either having her eyebrows burned off by Neville's potion or having to deal with the tension if Malfoy was there. 'I could always just draw my eyebrows on until they grew back…" She sighed; nothing was making sense anymore. She smiled at Ron and Neville as the approached was as bright as usual, but she didn't quite feel as bright. She felt tense and uneasy, but most of all guilty. Draco was in this class and she didn't dare turn her head or allow her eyes to flicker in his direction. Her actions disgusted her and the thought of them made her feel like she gave something to Malfoy, like he triumphed over her in some way. She shuddered just thinking about their kiss. What will everyone think of her? 'It doesn't matter what they think,' she thought, only her own opinion mattered and that, quite frankly, was disappointment. How could she let herself be…

"Hermione?" Harry beckoned as he caught her staring fixedly at the wall. He snapped his fingers in front of her face.

"Oh!" she awoke from her daydream, "Sorry… I was just…" Suddenly the sound of glass shattering drew away Harry's attention. Hermione exhaled in relief, she was never caught daydreaming during a class and she certainly had no way to explain herself now. Her head spun to the source of the shattered glass and found that right next to her Neville was fumbling frantically with a broken vial filled containing an extremely volatile silvery blue liquid called Mioxilus. It eats through wood.Uh-oh. Harry and Hermione sprang up from their chairs and attempted to get rid of the mess and prevent it from doing too much damage…that is before Snape noticed. But were they ever that lucky? Before they knew it the corner of the table broke of and tumbled to the floor and Snape came thundering to their table. 

"WHAT HAVE YOU FUMBLING GRYFFINDOR'S MANAGED TO DESTROY NOW? MIOXILUS! WHERE DID YOU GET THIS?" Snape bellowed demandingly at them. He quickly flicked his wand to clean up the mess and fix the damage then looked stealthily at Neville.  

"I…I…Malfoy handed it to me professor! He told me to hold it and it slipped from my hand!" Neville managed to stammer as he pointed accusingly at Draco who was sitting behind him. 

"Malfoy!" Snape snarled, "Is this true?" 

"No, professor I was sitting here this whole time finishing up the potion with Crabbe and Blaise. Wasn't I?" Malfoy looked at them to back up his story and they nodded ardently.  

Snape looked positively thrilled, "LONGBOTTOM! DETEN…"

Just then Dean jumped up from his seat, "He's lying professor! I saw it myself! Malfoy and the rest of them dipped the vial in Sliddulus and handed it to Neville!"

"THOMAS! SIT DOWN THIS INSTANT!" Snape shouted looking very annoyed that there was an apparent witness to this, "TWENTY points from both houses! Wait no…FORTY points from Slythindor! And if so much as a GRAIN drops throughout the rest of this class I'll put every last one of you in detention and you can be sure… it won't be pleasant," with that Snape glared contemptuously at Neville and threw a warning glance toward Draco as he stormed away looking hazardously aggravated muttering something about damaged furniture and foolish Neanderthals.

When he left the air was still thick with anger and disgust. 

"What the hell was that stunt for Malfoy?" Harry hissed as Hermione tried to keep busy by making the potion and avoiding any sort of contact with Draco however irritated she was.

Draco and the rest of his table smirked, "For pure entertainment and pleasure I'd say, wouldn't you think?" Draco asked his counterparts as they again nodded in agreement, "Like everything we do…" Draco's eyes flickered toward Hermione.

Hermione looked up, startled at those words, anger rising from the pit of her stomach where her nerves were crashing like tidal waves, "Excuse me? EVERYTHING you do?" Her eyes bore into his meaningfully.

"Pretty much," he replied being bluntly dismissive, his eyes failing to betray any sort of emotion or connotation to their exchange. Everyone else just looked confused. 

"What the F…" Harry began. 

"HARRY!" Neville interrupted him, giving him a Snape-will-hear-you-then-we'll- be-shoveling-dung-all-night look.

Harry ignored this and continued, "Malfoy if you think you can be a bloody disgusting wank…"

"Wait," Hermione interrupted again, not even hearing Harry speak but continuing her interrogation, "What EXACTLY do you mean by that Malfoy," she continued grilling him wrathfully, "Pure pleasure and entertainment you say? What if I told you ripping out your eyeballs and frying them on a skillet was entertaining? Hmm? WOULDN'T THAT BE LOVELY?!" Hermione stabbed the table with her knife, "AUGH!!" She gave Draco unarguably the most abhorrent look and stormed off to get more Wolfsbane. 

Harry sat blinking repeatedly at her retreating figure. Neville cleared his throat uneasily and pried the knife from the table before Snape came over and fried THEIR eyes for damaging the furniture again.  They glanced at each other and after deciding that pretty much did it, they continued chopping ingredients and mixing the potion quietly. Malfoy had watched this whole scene with quite a bit of astonishment.  It had started as amusing, seeing her so incensed but WHOA, if he was close enough that knife would have been going through his face and not the table that's for sure. Would have left a rather unattractive scar…tarnish his impeccable complexion.  He saw Hermione return to her table, expertly avoiding his gaze and causing her partners to exchange some she's-finally-cracked looks as she slammed ingredients down, made huffing noises as she measured and was just plain in a tizzy. Hey, she had to face facts just like he did, was how Draco thought about it. What was the point? There wasn't one, he was a PUREBLOOD. He had to accept that since truth is truth, and the truth was that he'd been getting FAR too friendly with her, and it had to stop. He was no good for her anyway, she provided an ear to listen to his stupid ramblings that he daftly spilled out to her but that was over now. And it was time she realized it. 

After class, Hermione, still irritated, stormed out of the dungeons carrying her books in a haphazard manner and drudged along the hallway. Ron and Harry tried to catch up but she expertly maneuvered her way through the crowd and turned a corner to lose them. She really didn't want to deal with them and their prodding right now. It was the beginning of the lunch period but she felt more like throwing up food rather than eating any. After a bit of aimless sauntering around Hogwarts she found herself in front of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. She seemed to find herself there whenever she felt a bit forlorn. Her anger had receded and had left her feeling a bit dejected. She pushed open the door and found the bathroom empty and a faint splashing sound resounding from a far stall in the bathroom as usual. As she proceeded inside, flashbacks of all her encounters with Draco flashed in her mind and made her heart jump. It also made her feel a pang of guilt. She never thought that she was capable of betrayal, but it had seemed that the Draco she had known before was just wearing a mask. A mask over his true self, over the trapped, seemingly helpless boy she knew. She had fallen for his trap though, 'He probably uses that 'pity me' garbage with everyone.' But then she remembered what she had seen in the cabin when they were in the forest and how his father hurt him…how she helped him and he helped her…But why? What was it for? How could he just use her? More like how could she LET him use her…She looked into the mirror against the wall and saw a blurry reflection staring back at her as her eyes clouded with tears. She had betrayed her friends and herself, and all for nothing but Draco's smug satisfaction. He had gotten his revenge. Suddenly she heard a loud splashing sound and groaned. 

Moaning Myrtle popped out of the drain inside the sink she was in front of, "Oooh, Hermione are you _crying? How __dreadful!" Moaning Myrtle exclaimed almost gleefully._

Hermione sniffed and wiped her eyes, "I'm not, Myrtle, I've just got…allergies."

"You think Myrtle doesn't know crying when she sees it? And allergies from what? Are you allergic to ghosts?"

"NO, I just…it's only…"

Myrtle gasped, "Ooh a BOY? What has he done?" Her eyes widened in anticipation.

"Nothing…no I mean he didn't do…oh god I mean there is no boy in the first place."

"Hmph! Just 'cause I'm a ghost doesn't mean I'm _stupid._ If you don't trust me then just say it!" she practically shouted before bursting into tears and wailing so loud that Hermione covered her ears.

"No Myrtle please…I didn't mean…please stop crying…could you just…OH ALL RIGHT!"

Moaning Myrtle stopped on cue as if she had got what she was aiming for, smiled triumphantly, sidled out of the drain and sat on the sink, "Goooood, now spill"

For a second Myrtle reminded her of Lavender and Parvati which was quite disconcerting but she continued anyway, "Well, I did something I really shouldn't have…I kind of…well there's this Slytherin boy that torments all my friends AND tormented me before too, but started being nice to me and I helped him and he helped me and then we got trapped in a net and he kissed me and I kissed him back and now I find out he just used me for his entertainment and now I feel like crap." Hermione drew her first breath since the beginning of her explanation.

"_Slytherin? Aren't you in __Gryffindor? Ooh this is good! But predictable…you should have seen it coming," Myrtle said matter-of- factly, "He wouldn't by any chance be that apparently gorgeous blonde bloke in Slytherin that all the girls that come in here blabber about constantly, right?"_

"N-no… it's not," Hermione stammered then cursed herself for not being a better liar as she watched Myrtle's eyes widen with pleasure. 

"It issssss him! Wow…I'll tell you one thing...you've gone farther with him than any other girl that's been in here. They've only been ogling him from afar. But I'll tell you what, anyone every fleshy girl is gushing about must be quite the charmer so don't feel so bad…your hormonesprobably took over your brain for a while, just ignore him from now on…at least you learned something from it right?" Moaning Myrtle looked back at her with the calmest voice Hermione had ever heard. She had never seen Moaning Myrtle talk so...normally before. She _was_ a girl before after all…

Hermione wiped her eyes with her sleeve, "Thanks Myrtle, you're right…and _lucky_ you don't have any hormones," Hermione smiled meekly.

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say, "_LUCKY? Oh so I'm LUCKY to be dead am I?! You think that's so funny that I don't even have a PULSE either? I'll tell you what I do have- FEELINGS!" _

"No Myrtle I meant…lucky since…" Hermione sighed- it was no use. Myrtle sprung up from the sink bawling, then splashed into a toilet on the far end of the bathroom continuing her fit of wails.  

Hermione gathered her tower of books again and left the bathroom feeling a tiny bit better now that she had her hormones to blame. She closed the door on a howling Myrtle and proceeded down to the Great Hall. She had regained her appetite so she quickened her pace a bit on her way to lunch which made her pile of books waver unsteadily. She ignored this however as she continued jogging along the corridors until she caught a couple of people coming up to her from a different direction. 

"Hey there," Hayden emerged seemingly out of nowhere and greeted her with his cute dimply smile. He had a friend with him that had short dark curly hair and was rather cute. He stayed behind though as Hayden approached Hermione.

"Hi," Hermione slowed to a stop and grinned back, her books still teetering to and fro, "I was just heading down to the Great Hall for a late lunch; where are you going?"

"I was just looking for you actually, so I was going to pay the library a visit, but I see you've already done your share of book borrowing for the day, eh?" he said chuckling.

She ignored his last question, and after musing that going to the library must be a rare occurrence in his life, she called him on his first remark, "Looking for me? Why?" She put her books down on the floor as they were getting rather heavy.

"Remember that blonde bloke Malfoy we were talking about the last time we spoke?"

She nodded, curious as to where this was going, "Yah…why?" 

"Well you remember my Rolex right?" 

Hermione inwardly rolled her eyes at hearing about this again. She knew it was valuable but he really needed to get over it. However, memories surrounding that particular watch pained her into a momentary reverie…She snapped out of it as Hayden continued talking. 

"My friend Orlando here," he motioned to the boy behind him, "was asking around about it and when Malfoy was asked if he knew anything…he said you had it," he finished with hesitation, not wanting to accuse her but feeling obligated to call her on it nonetheless. 

Hermione looked appalled, "ME?! That lying rat! I haven't the _slightest _idea where your Rolex is! He specifically said that I had it?"

"Actually," Orlando spoke up for the first time approaching Hayden's side, "His exact words were 'I last saw it with that buck toothed, shaggy haired brunette in Gryffindor.' And when I asked for your name he said, 'Encyclopedia 'halfwit-annica.' Oh and he also added that we should watch out for your volatile temperament as you notoriously brandish sharp objects and throw rather heavy items at people's heads." Hayden apparently hadn't expected this bout of honesty so he elbowed him and widened his eyes warningly. 

"Oh and you thought of ME right away, did you?!" Hermione put her hands to her hips, feeling insulted. The two boys tried not to look apprehensive in case Draco's words rang some truth in which case they were probably risking some extreme blood loss.

Hayden looked guilty and opened his mouth to explain when Orlando spoke again, "Don't worry, we can see he's lying," he looked her up and down then winked, "His friends were muttering your name while he spoke, that's all."

Hermione was very uneasy; the way he was looking at her was making her extremely uncomfortable, "Oh…ok…right well sorry I couldn't help."

Hayden took this opportunity before she picked her books back up to take her by the hand, and whisper in her ear, "Remember our date…" Then he softly kissed her on the cheek. Orlando rolled his eyes visibly behind him. At that moment before he broke away and before she could notice, Hayden slipped a note inside the cover of one of her books. Then with one last look and another flirtatious wink from Orlando, they both continued down the corridor. Hermione looked after them, puzzled, 'What is WITH boys these past few weeks? I guess since the ball is coming up everyone's getting all flirty,' she sighed, '...whatever,' she mused to herself as she picked up her books and checked her watch. Only a half an hour left of lunch and she'd have a lot of explaining to do. However with the amount of books she had, the library excuse would do. She was really hungry now though so her pace picked up quickly as her pile of books teeter tottered about. She didn't care though as she dashed through the corridor; she was getting closer now. When she only had one more corridor to pass she broke out into a run, but as soon as she did, her foot stepped on something small that caused her to be thrown off balance. She stood there a second trying to steady her books again as they swayed, but at that instant she felt herself needing to sneeze. 'No…no…please…,' she wriggled her nose, but it was in vain, "ACHOO!" As soon as she sneezed, her tower of books fell onto the floor and scattered. 

"ARRGGGHHHH! What the HELL tripped me?!" she searched around the area where she lost her balance and caught a glimpse of something shiny and golden from below one of her fallen books. She moved the book aside and to her shock she found herself picking up a…ROLEX?! "Why God? WHYYYYYYYY? How in Merlin's name did this _stupid_ watch get here?! Damn ubiquitous piece of crap." She shoved the problematic watch into her pocket, begrudgingly got on her knees and started gathering her books. After piling them again she counted them to make sure she had them all. 'Hmm…one's missing." She glanced around her and spotted the small red book on blood transfiguration beyond her stack.  However, when she extended her arm and grabbed it, the book was already being lifted off the floor. She rose with it, still clutching it until she reached the top of her pile when she could see who was on the other end of it. She found herself standing, staring into the eyes of Draco Malfoy, the last person she wanted to see right now. They stood gazing at each other for a second before his grip loosened and she snatched her book away. 

"I didn't ask for your help you prat!" 

Draco rolled his eyes and continued walking. 

"Wait a second, where do you think you're going?"

He turned around, raising his eyebrows and giving her a now-you-want me-to-_stay_? look.

"I heard about your flattering description of me, while accusing ME of having Hayden's watch!"

Still silent, Draco paced back and stood in front of Hermione. She watched as he unexpectedly stuck his hand in her pocket and pulled out the Rolex.

"You do." 

Hermione glared at him, as he smirked arrogantly. She snatched the watch back from a now sniggering Draco, lifted up her books and continued walking down the corridor in a huff.

He called after her still chuckling, "Hey Granger, need a little help there?" She was looking even more imbalanced than before, looking somewhat like a circus seal trying to balance a ball on its nose as she moved around haphazardly through the hall trying not to drop anything. 

His sarcastic tone only served to irritate her more, "GO...STICK YOUR HEAD…IN A POT… OF BOILING WATER…MALFOY!" she retorted in between her attempts to maintain stability. She soon disappeared as she turned (more like bumped) around a corner. Draco fully expected to hear a crashing noise and feel the ground vibrate as if there was a small earthquake as he had felt before. He had been walking to the library when he had a moment's peace to escape from Crabbe and Goyle, when he heard the loud noise and watched Hermione and her books tumbling to the ground like an avalanche as he turned into the corridor.  He found this quite funny as he watched her rage about the watch and crossly gather her books. He always liked to see her annoyed… and oddly enough his feet had carried him to where she was struggling and he found himself picking up her book with her grasping the other end. Her incensed countenance pleased him greatly as he cunningly pulled out the watch from her pocket to enrage her even more. It was weird…but he enjoyed being around her. Not that he'd ever admit it to anyone- that information was as secret as his stuffed bear Smooshy... whatever. Part him honestly did want to help her…chivalry wasn't dead after all. And Malfoy's were quite the proper breed of men if he did say so himself…except not to mudbloods.  'But what about intelligent, funny, understanding ones?' something inside him asked against the will of his pride. Frustration with himself and this growing fear inside him were spreading throughout his body because of what he was feeling. It was distressing that he was _feeling anything, period. After Hermione could no longer be heard knocking into walls and banging into suits of armor along the hallway, he was about to turn around and resume his walk to the library when he caught a glimpse of a small folded up piece of paper on the floor. He bent down and picked it up and it said, "For Hermiony's eyes ONLY."  Draco smirked mischievously as he opened the note. However, he soon wished he hadn't…_

Deer Hermiony,

            How have you been? Pleese excuse my speling mistakes…I'm not very good at grammer…Anyway, I'm sitting here in class (I'm not sure witch one) riting to you because I thowght yu should know that I've been thinking abowt yu a lot. I was mezmerized by yur incredible intelligense and wunderful sence of humor. To show yu how much I'm looking forwerd to our date, I rote yu a poem…

Hermiony, yu are nice and sweet

As my date to the ball, yu cant be beet.

I'll meet yu by the door at sevin.

And I'll make sure yur evening is like heavin

I really wish that I coud build yu a shrine

And that mayb I coud make you mine, 

I know Im not as smart as yu

But yure worth evrything that I do

I hope youll give me some of yur time

Because looking like you do must be a crime

            Well, I hope yu liked it. It took me about 8 ours to rite it. Anyway, see yu at the dance.

                                                                                                                                    Luv,

                                                                                                                                  Hayden

            Draco read it over and over again. He found his hand contracting over the paper, crumpling it as his fist balled up. He glared at the paper and felt an overwhelming sense of disgust. 'Who does this IDIOT think he is?' Draco felt like throwing up his past 25 meals. But then he stopped himself, his emotions were take over his brain again. He only wanted to rip Hayden's brain out through his nose because…he had atrocious grammar. 'Who the hell cares about that mudblood's love life? That imbecile can have her,' he thought. He sure didn't want her around to have an intelligent conversation with or tell her what was on his mind or to kiss her again... 'I'm going through a mental breakdown I know it, I need to calm down.' The letter was now the size of a marble. Something was overcoming him-fast. He swore to himself up and down that he didn't like her…but yet he knew that no matter what he told himself, she just wasn't as bad to have around anymore. She was unlike any other girl he'd ever known, and he was feeling things that he had never felt before. Draco un-crumpled the letter, folded it up and put it away in his pocket feeling that he needed to keep it for some reason. He then continued his stroll to the library with thoughts storming through his mind 'What was going on between those two? Had they talked after that time he saw them together? WHY THE HELL DO I CARE?!' As he arrived at the library he gruffly opened the doors, attracting attention from all directions (the right amount of attention for a god he figured). His cloak billowed behind him as he speedily went to renew his book; glad that for once he knew Hermione wouldn't be there. As he finished his business with Madame Pince, she had scurried off quickly muttering something about a faculty meeting she was late for. Draco was about to turn around and leave when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He spun around and found his face stiffening at who was facing him. 

"Hey Malfoy, I heard what you said about Hermione before," Hayden said crossing his arms and trying his best to put on a bullying face. His head was thrown back, and his eyes glared as he scrunched his face in some weird version of an angry expression. It was clearly a sadly failing attempt to look menacing. He was accompanied by Orlando again, who was looking quite disinterested, his eyes affixed on some blonde girl waiting to take a book out. 

Draco ignored this comment and the absurd face he was making, "Are you sure you didn't take a wrong turn somewhere? Because this is the LIBRARY, you know with these things, no they're not sandwiches…they're BOOKS," Draco took one off the table next to him and proceeded to open the front cover slowly, "See you open them like_ this_…"

Hayden actually looked like he was learning a thing or two as he stared at the cover. As his friend chuckled, he realized the joke and elbowed Orlando who immediately put a serious face on and proceeded to stare at some red haired Ravenclaw.

"You're not funny Malfoy, especially when you make fun of Hermione," Hayden took another step towards him. Draco didn't even blink.

"Aww…does Hayden have a widdle cwush on Hermy?" Draco made a face of mock adoration, but only a second later it soured, "Now, if you don't mind too much, I'd rather you keep details of your love life to yourself as I would very much like to keep my lunch down, thanks." Draco was surveying him, 'So this was the kind of guy Hermione liked, huh…' he mused, maybe he would lose his lunch after all…'And as if I didn't hear such idiotic ramblings from Crabbe and Goyle all day. Can I never escape it?!' 

"I do NOT have a crush on her," Hayden returned with his eyes flashing dangerously.

Orlando scoffed, and muttered, "More like an obsession." 

Hayden's head jerked in his direction and gave him a death stare. Draco snickered loudly, soon finding Hayden's livid stare upon him. 

"You know what _I_ don't understand is what a cold hearted Death Eater would know about matters that involve actual feeling about anyone else besides his reflection," Hayden spat contemptuously, his countenance expressing the utmost confidence. Orlando let out a low whistle, which one would think signified that the line was crossed but was actually for a passing Hufflepuff girl.  

Draco became irate. His face burned with anger as his desire to break Hayden's face increased, "What did you just call me you brainless, feeble-minded fool? Did you think _this would impress her? You don't know what she needs." He didn't know what he was saying anymore, something was infecting every particle of his body with…with…he didn't know but it was taking over fast. His jaw clenched and his fists tightened threateningly, knowing that this guy was crossing the line by even speaking to him, let alone calling him a death eater. As far as Draco was concerned Hayden was an inch from death, and he wasn't bright enough to know when to stop apparently as his face almost brightened with satisfaction with Draco's visible ire.  _

Hayden, in fact was enjoying this immensely, and seeing this as a victory he returned superiorly, "I think I know what she needs in a way you never will." This time Orlando was off flirting with the blonde he was staring at initially, but as he saw Draco about to pounce on Hayden he took a double take and rushed over. Before he got there though, someone else was intervening. 

Apparently no one had seen Hermione approaching from behind, casually walking into the library as she did on any other day. That is until she caught sight of both Hayden and Draco wearing alarmingly belligerent expressions and uttering inaudible insults at each other near the librarian's desk. She watched as Draco's face went from amusement to rage, his whole body stiffening as his eyes turned to slits and his mouth a rigid line on his face. Hayden's back was to her, but apparently what he was saying irked Draco in a severe way. It wasn't the way Harry or Ron annoyed him, it was somehow deeper, more cutting. Normally she would just avoid fight scenes and make her way as far as possible from the site, but somehow she knew what this fight was about. She immediately dropped her book and rushed over as soon as Draco's face had burst from fury. Without delay she placed herself between them, an intervening hand on each of their chests struggling to keep them apart. Orlando joined her soon as well attempting to break them up before they were able to do something they would soon regret. Both belligerents never broke their livid eye contact as they struggled to lunge at each other. Soon other boys in the library had intervened as well, holding them back away from each other. Hermione stood a few feet away from the forming crowd, listening to the ensuing argument and growing alarmed by the hostile environment growing around her. 

"You filthy piece of scum, you'll pay dearly for this. Do you think this is the end of your fight with a Malfoy? I'd leave town if I were you. Actually if I _were _you I'd probably drink poison from the agony of being a barbaric, crackbrained oaf!" Malfoy spat, still struggling violently to free himself from the grasps of the boys still clutching him tightly.

"You're just mad I caught you off guard without you're pathetic blank-faced body guards," Hayden retorted, equally trying to free his arms, "They're the only friends a spiteful callous bloke like you would have anyway; figures they're so _dense_ that _light_ bends around them." A couple of watching Gryffindors chuckled. The Slytherin spectators however, were not amused. 

"Think that's funny do ya? What, you sure aren't the smartest bloke in this school you hideous, deformed imbecile! Last time I saw a face like yours it had a hook in its mouth! Not to mention you're a dirty Gyffindor," a Slytherin boy from behind Draco shouted. 

"What are you saying about Gryffindors you vile cretinous dungbat! Is 15 your age or your IQ?!" a girl standing beside Hayden shouted. Students gasped and grew angered; this was getting personal. 

"Oh _please_, you can't even _spell_ IQ!" So you just shut your filthy trap! another girl on the opposing side shouted. Dark, ominous looks could be seen on he faces of every person in the room. Fists began balling up and it was quite clear that the any further provocation would set them off. 

"Come MAKE me!" the other girl shouted back. Those three words were like a match dropped in a barrel of gasoline.  Except what exploded was rage. 

Before they all knew it, as she lunged at the other girl, all hell broke loose. Masses of students from both sides dived at each other creating one of the biggest hand to hand brawls Hogwarts had ever seen. It wasn't all hand to hand though, those who could get to their wands out attempted some hexes, however missing many times and hitting an ally as they couldn't aim properly through the tangle of feuding bodies. Shouting and screaming was heard as robes tore and punches were thrown. Tangles of bright lights shining and sparks flying could be seen on top of that as spells went rampant throughout the massive brawl. It was just a big web of feuding students, some piling on top of each other as more people came to join the fight. It was getting more violent by the second, grunts and groans could be heard as insults sliced through the air that was thick with hatred. Books fell off shelves and pages tore while Hermione stood, still feet away from the brawl watching the huge cluster of fighting students. Hogwarts student against Hogwarts student. Weren't they all on the same side? In the end weren't they all fighting for the same cause? Everyone, side by side struggling, good against evil? And why was everyone acting like they were in different houses again? They were all in Slythindor, a fact they should have accepted by now. 'Why are they doing this?' she thought, shaking her head shamefully. As she watched the clash ensue, growing more violent as the seconds slipped into minutes, she got her answer. 

The noise of the uproar was so loud, that it sounded like a war zone, 'That's it I'm getting out of this chaos, I can't even hear myself think, and this is the _library_." But as Hermione was about to make her way out the door, her disgust repelling her from the sight before her, she heard someone call to her in a rather unpleasant manner…

"Hey mudblood! Where do you think you're going?" spat a fuming Pansy who Hermione could hear approaching from behind.

Hermione turned around to face her and rolled her eyes. Pansy's hair was still purple, but just a little lighter than she had charmed it before. It was layered, with most of her wavy tresses lying just below her shoulders, but some framing her face and falling in front of her crystal blue eyes. Her eyes were looking incredibly menacing at the moment however, but Hermione was rather indifferent. She glanced at her watch impatiently, "Listen Pansy I'm leaving now; can I ignore you some other time?" 

Pansy didn't look amused, she bellowed over the noise, "I don't think so, not before I make you change my hair back you dirty-blooded wench!" One hand was on her hip, the other gesturing at her head of purple hair. 

Hermione laughed out loud, her hands wrapped around a large book "You wish! While you're here in the library why don't you brush up on a bit of _reality_? I wouldn't help you if my dear life depended on it!" she shouted over the exploding spells and shouts in the background.

"Oh…it will," Pansy spat threateningly as she took her wand out, Hermione noticed immediately that she must have been involved in the scuffle as the top of her wand was broken and left a jagged edge at the tip. Pansy pointed her wand at Hermione. Her lips moved to say a spell but Hermione was too quick for her. Within a second she dropped her book, and expertly snatched her wand from her robes. 

"Expelliarmus!" she bellowed, watching Pansy's horror stricken face as her wand flew out of her hands, she followed up with, "Accio Wand!" and her opponent's wand fell into her hand. She smiled widely at Pansy who looked at her lividly with wide eyes and clenched teeth.

"Hmm… now what should I do with this? Any…ideas?" Hermione asked sweetly as she placed her wand on Pansy's neck.  

"You'll be sorry for this Granger," Pansy said silkily through clenched teeth. They were close enough now that they didn't need to shout above the havoc taking place a few feet from where they stood. Suddenly Hermione caught sight of something behind Pansy…some silvery blonde hair…

Hayden and Draco were unsurprisingly still at it, Draco attempting at every chance to hex him and Hayden still trying to land one sweet blow on Draco's face. At the moment they were just scuffling, trying to gain control over the other when Draco decided to put brains over brawn, finding himself at an advantage even being able to call on his brains unlike his adversary. 

Through their wrestling Draco managed to grunt, "Hey Murray, I didn't know you were so serious about Granger…building her a shrine…wow that's going to take some work." 

Hayden was taken aback, he shoved Draco hard away from him, "What did you just say Malfoy?" His brows furrowed in curiosity while his eyes flashed with a new wave of anger.

Draco was very pleased, looking back at him nonchalantly with a wicked gleam in his eye, "Oh nothing…I just thought it was cute, a little mudblood couple at the ball together…"

Suddenly, Draco was caught off his guard as his eyes landed on Hermione who he saw was in the middle of a duel with Pansy. It distracted him from Hayden who had lost it completely and punched Draco in the face. Hard. Draco felt the pain in his jaw sear through his face as it was flung back. He retained his balance and as his hand found its way immediately to his wounded face, he lowered it to look at the blood from his lip. He knew he deserved it. His words were provoking as usual, but he knew Hayden was love-struck with Hermione and the anger that stemmed from this took over. However, there would still be severe consequences. He looked from his bloody hand to Hayden who was giving him a smug superior look, similar to what one would usually find to be Draco's countenance. At that second where Draco's rage peaked, with the brawl around them still ensuing someone was shoved right into Hayden, knocking him to the floor. Thankful for this, Draco's wand was out in a flash pointed at Hayden's chest. Hayden's eyes were filled with surprise and alarm as Draco, looking livid and disheveled, still panting from their brawl stood above him looking severely hazardous. 

 Draco's eyes blazed with fury, and above the uproar he shouted, "I don't know how many times you've tried trifling with a Malfoy, Murray. But you obviously don't know of the meaning of _fear. Actually, come to think of it, you don't know the meaning of a lot of words…" Draco laughed arrogantly, now having the upper hand. Hayden, finding himself in direct danger of one terrible hex, boldly tried to escape through the side but it was far too late. _

"Furnunculus!" Draco bellowed, smirking very proudly as he watched boils materialize all over Hayden's skin. He chuckled as Hayden struggled to his feet and felt his face, so horrified that he began to scream and hopelessly tried to swipe his hand across his arms and face, vainly thinking that they'd just fall off. After looking thoroughly revolted, he eventually composed himself and putting the pain of the boils aside, gave Draco a withering look that could only mean revenge was near. But Draco wasn't going to lose the upper hand. As Hayden raised his wand, it was close enough for Draco to grab it out of his hand, so he snatched it from Hayden's grip.

Glancing at Hayden's helplessly shocked face, Draco spoke silkily, "Now what shall I do with this lovely piece of wood?" Draco looked the wand up and down, and smirked, "Any ideas…pus face?" He laughed as he looked at Hayden's boil filled complexion. They traced down his arm to his fingertips and throughout his body as well.

Hayden looked very aggrieved as the boils burned, but at the same time his face reddened from anger, desperately trying to remain collected as his blemished skin pained his entire body, "Give it back Malfoy or this time I'll break your jaw in half."

Draco was unaffected, and as he opened his mouth to retort, he caught sight of Hermione again, this time with her wand on Pansy's neck. They made eye contact for a split second and to his shock he saw Pansy grab her wand back. It was too late for Hermione's attention to return as Pansy used her wand not to do magic but he saw her smack it clean across Hermione's face. He watched Hermione as the pain seared through her face, because as he failed to notice, Pansy's wand was broken at the tip leaving quite a sharp edge. Hermione's face bled from the gash across her cheek, and as Draco saw this he took Hayden's wand and threw it into the middle of the brawl. Hayden didn't expect this and let out an infuriated grunt, muttered something about never finding it and as Draco had intended, sent Hayden on a mad rush to find it, disappearing into the bulk of the riotous students. Draco immediately headed over to where Hermione and Pansy were; not knowing exactly why his feet were carrying him there, but a powerful feeling inside of him drove him in their direction. But then…suddenly he stopped. He watched as Hermione turned her face back to Pansy, brushing her curly hair from her face and tucking it behind her wounded left cheek. She traced her hand over the raw cut, and looked down at her hand wielding the blood that trickled down her face. Draco touched his lip again and did the same, feeling as if he had just hit a hard wall of realization. Everything around him became silenced. He looked from his blood to hers. His brain felt cramped from concentration, he didn't understand what the difference was between their blood. Both their faces were dripping the same warm red substance that coursed through their veins and kept their hearts pulsing life into them every day. He'd been calling her a mudblood this whole time, and even though he didn't expect her to literally have mud as her blood, he had never really seen it with his own eyes. Nothing made her blood dirty, it was the same as his, what difference do her parents make in what kind of blood she had? Blood was blood, and theirs looked the same to him. Gazing at this sight not only incited realization, but the fact that she was shedding blood at all sent a jolt through his chest. Was it anger? He couldn't be sure. All he knew was that Pansy had better run. Fast. 

Hermione stood, shocked at Pansy's unexpected blow. She must have known that using her wand for magic was going to just backfire. After seeing the blood on her hand Hermione felt like the red she was seeing on her palm was everywhere. Her eyes were practically flashing red from rage and before she could even think what she was doing her wand was held straight at Pansy who was laughing hysterically 

"Aeroculus!" she shouted stealthily in total concentration, her anger seeping through her wand. A blue shiny substance shot out from the tip of her wand and wrapped around an alarmed Pansy. She began screaming as the peculiar blue liquid surrounded her completely. When it had her caged in Hermione lifted her wand and Pansy lifted straight of the floor, higher and higher…Some people watched, jaws dropping, as a livid Hermione deftly lifted the screaming Pansy above their heads and so high that she reached the top of the highest bookshelf in the library. Pansy looked tiny now as Hermione dropped her on top of the shelf. Hermione muttered another spell and blue platforms on either  side of the shelf flashed then disappeared, everyone assuming that was so she wouldn't fall off…or try to escape (Pansy wasn't the fastest broom in the fleet after all). Draco approached Hermione from behind, his eyes still affixed on Pansy as he walked up to her side. 

"Where did on earth did you learn that Granger? Since when do you read hex books?" Draco asked looking at her now amazed at what he had just seen. He was rushing through the crowd towards them before when he stopped in his tracks seeing Hermione, well...handling it.

"I don't. That spell is meant for objects, and I used it on one," her face was straight as she said this, turning to him almost not realizing who she was even speaking to. She had enough of this, and now she felt her head ache from all the noise and her face stinging her sharply. She looked back up at Draco who was eying her curiously. He was in quite a state with his hair and clothes disheveled with his bottom lip swollen and bleeding. Hermione hid any concern she had and shook her head, "What the hell were you thinking Malfoy? Look what you've started," she waved her hand around the room at the chaotic fight scene, then placed it on her hip reproachfully "Only you of all people could start a brawl THIS big." She sighed as she touched her bleeding cut again, letting out a slight groan. She spotted the book she dropped before right behind Draco and bent down to pick it up. When she grabbed it however something fell on top of it. Hermione picked up a dark, familiar piece of cloth. She looked up at him questioningly.

"Use that on your cut," Draco said plainly, his face straight and serious, gesturing his head in the direction of her hand. She got up without picking up the book.

"Is this…from your cloak?" she looked from the cloth into his eyes that were masked completely. He had kept a piece of the cloak she had ripped up in the forest. 

He gave the slightest nod, "I'm returning the favor."

She raised her eyebrows, "Since when do Malfoy's do that?" she asked still holding the cloth in her palm.

He took her hand and raised her palm to her face, covering the wound with the cloth, "Since now." The noise behind her disappeared; he made her feel like she was the only person in the room.  She found herself lifting her hand and tracing his injured lip softly; wanting to do something she knew she shouldn't. Hermione felt his thumb stroke her hand ever so slightly, setting off alarms in her head causing her to realize what she was doing. She shoved his hand away.

"What do you think you're doing?" she interrogated sharply, "Why do you keep doing this?" She threw the blood streaked cloth back at him, watching him catch it reflexively. "I don't want anything from you. What do you want from me? Other than pure entertainment and pleasure that is?" She glared at him contemptuously. 

He was caught off guard, he hadn't really known what he was doing and was thrown by her reference to his earlier comments. He said them purely to irritate her, and he wished that he had meant them, but an infuriating something inside him was telling him that he hadn't. 

His eyes were guarded, "I don't want anything Granger, Merlin forbid I try to help y…"

She interrupted, glaring into his eyes, "WHY? Why would you of all people want to help _me_? Just tell me… I can't take this anymore." She looked away from him, her eyes almost tearing from the anguish building inside of her. 

His eyes glimmered softly as he looked at her now.  She seemed so hurt and distressed, him being the cause. But wasn't that what he had intended? 

"Can't take what? All I did was give you a stupid cloth," he held it up in his hand. But he knew that it was more than just a stupid cloth. "I just felt I needed to make things…right."

She shook her head, "Right? Is it right to toy with people, making them think you gave a _damn_ about them?" He saw her wipe a frustrated tear from her eye. Hermione didn't know exactly why she shed that tear but for one thing, it was for letting him awaken things inside of her that she never knew existed. She was allowing him to consume her, and it had to stop. She spat disdainfully, "You could _never do anything right. It's far too late now."_

She shook her pained head as she picked up her book, and she didn't give him a second look as she moved towards the door. Draco looked dumbstruck, his eyes not betraying his dejection however as he watched her turn to leave. But someone else entered before Hermione could take a step. 

They watched alarmed as Dumbledore strode into the library. His face was unnaturally stern as he eyed the noisy, violent brawl taking place in front of him. They saw him take his wand out and point it at the ceiling, and before they knew it an ear-shattering thunder bolt could be seen ominously illuminating the library from the tip of his wand. Everything went silent and all movement ceased. Every single person in the room stopped in their tracks and looked up at Dumbledore. He surveyed every bump, every bruise, and every cut they had and shook his head. Their eyes were wide as they stared back at him, unsure of what he would do, but they knew that they were going to be in for it. The bright twinkle in his eyes was gone, and his beard seemed stiff as a board. The enormity of his displeasure was visible but their surprise, with one last withering glance, Dumbledore immediately turned on his heel and walked straight out the door. Everyone sighed from relief, but a second later they sharply inhaled the breath they just released. Filch had walked through the door with Mrs. Norris sauntering behind. They could almost see Mrs. Norris mirroring the malevolent yet gleeful grin that Filch wore. 

"Come with me," he said, still grinning widely, his eyes dancing with delight. He turned around and everyone followed leaving the library in an extremely chaotic state, with books strewn everywhere, parchment ripped and scattered throughout the floor on top of and beneath the many fallen book cases. A serene silence remained after every student had left…well except for one. 

"Hey…is anyone there?" asked Pansy shakily from above the bookcase, "Can somebody please get me down? ANYBODY?!" But no one was there to hear her sorry cry for help as she was left there to brood by herself while everyone else was following Filch up many long staircases.

As Hermione climbed staircase after stair case, Draco a few steps behind her, she became very worried. "Uh oh…we could get expelled for this…and Pansy! Maybe I was a little to harsh…where could he be taking us?" As they approached the seventh floor, it began to dawn on her and some other where they were being led to. They walked along the corridor until the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy being clubbed by trolls came into view. Across from it lay the room of requirement and to Hermione's dread, Filch stopped right in front of it. Many people had no idea where they were being led to, but others, they were quite aware that was the Room of Requirement, and Filch wasn't going to require something pleasant.  They all stopped to stare at the closed door in front of them. Filch was facing it but he gave them one more glimpse of his grin over his shoulder and opened the door. Cries and outbursts of disgust could be heard throughout the crowd as they entered. They held their noses as they saw what looked like two long lines on either side of them…of bathroom stalls?! Dirty, dingy, revolting bathroom stalls. To their utter disgust, Filch inhaled pleasurably then turned around to them.

"This is your punishment for the rest of the week. Every day from the time you leave classes until 6 in the evening you are all to report here and clean," he smiled broadly, "Dumbledore let me pick this rather enjoyable punishment, as I know how much teenagers love cleaning the loo…it'll be almost as fun as dunking your head into them, but the Headmaster has no sense in fun. He asked that two members from Slythindor get assigned to each loo and they must work to clean it until it _sparkles_, or else _nobody_ goes to the ball. Are we clear?"

Protests and groans of abhorrence could be heard from every mouth. They held their noses from the putrid smell, some lifting their shirts up to cover their noses. 

Filch ignored them, "You rotten children deserved it anyhow, tsk tsk tsk a brawl in the library? You are suspended from classes for the rest of the day. This will remain on your record until your punishment is complete. For now I _strongly suggest that some of you make your way to Madame Pomfrey with haste. As for your assignments, your names are already written on the doors," his eyes twinkled mischievously with pleasure, "All work is to be done manually; __don't even try…nothing in this room can be cleaned with magic. So…have fun" And with that he left them staring at his retreating figure in shock. A few long seconds after Filch had left, they wanted nothing more than to leave the place, but curiosity drove everyone to take a peek at what exactly what they were up against. _

Hermione, holding her nose and feeling extremely guilty, searched for her name along the stall doors. She walked along farther and farther looking on both sides, with others doing the same. Each of them stopping and with dread opened their appointed doors. She never go to see their reactions however as she searched for hers, gaining hope that it wasn't there. She sure wouldn't have a problem with that. As the end of the long corridor approached she could begin to see the very last stall, probably because it stuck out so much. Its top hinge was broken, causing the rusted door to fall over into the equally filthy bathroom waiting inside. The other doors were dirty, but not _that dirty, this one looked like the grime had several layers to it…all different shades of green and parts rusted brown with peeling paint. 'No…please no…oh God what did I do to deserve this?' As she got to the very end, and checked every other door, so she stood in front of visibly the dirtiest bathroom she had passed yet. She had to lean her head over to check if her name was there, and she grimaced as she saw it pasted on a piece of parchment on the top right corner or the door. With disgust she opened the door properly, which was quite a task since it was molded to the grime, causing her to have to pull harder to peel the door from the filth it was stuck to. If the door was bad…the inside was worse. The layers of grime were peeling off the wall, as well as the tiles along the back wall thick with mildew. Top to bottom, all four sides were thickly encrusted with dirty, grungy, muck. The toilet wasn't any better…if you could call it a toilet that is. The water inside it was a deep, dark orange color and debris that looked like pieces of the rusted wall could be seen inside it along with rings of scrum running along the inside perimeter. The outside was corroded completely, splotched with stains all over the mold coating every inch of it, top to bottom, inside out. Hermione felt like she was having a nightmare as she rubbed her temples with her fingers, feeling one major headache coming on from the overwhelming dread building inside of her. _

"Augh, this _has to be a terrible, terrible dream; someone pinch me__ please," she found herself muttering aloud. As soon as the words were out of her mouth she felt a pinch on her arm, startling her dreadfully, "_Ouch_! What the…" She found herself facing the source of her jolt, a slightly smirking yet uneasy Draco Malfoy. She should have known, "Oh no…please…" she mumbled to no one in particular as she frantically opened the door, pushing him out of the way to check. Sure enough, as her eyes glanced over the broken door, her stomach did an odd back flip as his name was printed clearly on the top left hand corner of the broken door, opposite hers. _

She looked back at him, clenching her teeth and glaring her eyes, surveying the result of her misfortune. His eyes were slightly hesitant to look at her, probably from her outburst before, but they filled with disgust as he looked past her at the stall. 

"Filch never said anything about house elves did he?" Draco's eyes glinted mischievously, already plotting to send for a whole fleet of house elves. 

"Don't even _think_ about it Malfoy, how could you use those poor things to do your work for you? Have you no shame?!" she crossed her arms.

"Are you kidding me, you're still on about that thing …S.C.R.E.W. or whatever it was?"

Hermione looked aghast, "It's S.P.E.W.! Society for the promotion of Elfish Welfare! Not S.C.R.E.W. you dolt! Although, I should start one! Society for the Castration of Retarded Egotistical Wizards!" she steamed indignantly, "We're going to clean this ourselves, and you're _not going to get out of it. Now if you don't mind, I'm not going to stand here all day listening to mindless infuriating nonsense from a vile troll like you!" _

She turned to leave when he called after her, smirking, "Troll? A dark, handsome bloke like me?"

She kept walking but responded, "Yah, when it's dark, you're handsome." It was her turn to smirk now as she looked back at his mock insulted look. She shook her head. This was going to be one _long week…_

*sigh* WHERE do I come up with these things?? I'm just trying to keep it unique I guess LoL please review you're feedback really helps and is really appreciated. I should be updating soon so check back in a bit! Oh and I'd like to thank my friend Kristen whose been helping me a TON with this fic and prodding me to update hahahaa she has a D/H fic too under the name Sweetwater called "The Mistake they Can't Deny" () Check it out sometime itz really good. Ok well cya- remember to review! =)


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